Here's What To Do With Unripe Pomegranates

Pomegranates have to be one of my favorite fruits and I think that shows because I write about them quite a lot. This also means I get many questions about pomegranates, and one of the most common is, what to do with unripe pomegranates?

Unripe pomegranates can be used in many food dishes, drinks and recipes. Unripe pomegranates can be used to produce pomegranate juice, fruit salads, smoothies, baked dishes and added to other food.

This article will tell you everything you can do with unripe pomegranates. In addition, I’ll be addressing other topics related to pomegranates. Therefore, if you have purchased some unripe pomegranates, I recommend you keep reading for everything you need to know.

Smoothie Tip: Adding frozen fruit, instead of ice, enhances the flavor and nutrient content. In addition, I routinely add pomegranate juice to my smoothies along with green vegetable and carrot juice. The secret to an easy smoothie is having a blender powerful enough to handle the workload.

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Can You Eat Unripe Pomegranate?

It happens to everyone, sometimes while shopping we’re in a rush and don’t fully inspect all the products taken off the shelf. It’s happened to me. I’ll buy some pomegranates and bring them home to find they’re unripe. Let’s take a look at whether or not you can consume those unripe pomegranates.

Unripe pomegranates will have a high acid count and how high depends on how ripe or unripe the fruit is. In most cases, you can eat pomegranate not fully ripe yet. However, if the pomegranate is still fully green, then eating it is not the best idea ¹.

If you are buying your pomegranate from a store, then I doubt any shop will have unripe pomegranates to the extent they’re inedible. That’s because pomegranates do not ripen after being picked ². That being said, you might just be unlucky when you buy an unripe pomegranate but the chances of them being inedible are highly unlikely.

Can You Ripen Pomegranate?

If you have had the misfortune of buying pomegranates that are not fully ripe, you might be wondering if you can ripen them yourself.

Pomegranates do not ripen after they have been harvested because they are a non-climacteric fruit. Once the pomegranate has been picked from its stem, it will stay as it is until it eventually goes bad.

This is why it’s so important for you to inspect any fruit you want to buy from the store. It will lessen the chances of you buying unripe fruit.

Side Note: “Non-climacteric” just means any fruit that needs to be attached to its tree or bush to reach full maturity ³.

What To Do With Unripe Pomegranates

Now it’s time to get into the meat of this article. If your pomegranates are unripe, there are still many things you can do with them. In this section, we’re going to take a look at a few things you can do with your unripe pomegranates.

Make Pomegranate Jam

Pomegranate jam is one of the best jams you can eat. Put the jam on toast and the flavors you get are incredible. The texture is what really stands out for me when it comes to pomegranate jam.

Make Pomegranate Juice

As I mentioned earlier, a grocery store will not really sell you unripe pomegranates to a certain extent. In fact, you should be able to use the pomegranate for most things, and one of the best is making pomegranate juice. It will be healthy, refreshing, and overall, good for you.

I don’t recommend this but one thing people do when making pomegranate juice is adding sugar. It makes it taste better and gets rid of some of the bitter taste you might get from eating unripe pomegranates. If you’re familiar with my philosophy, there’s no health benefit to added sugar.

Basically, I think making juice is the best thing to do because pomegranate juice is healthy, tastes great (even without sugar) and is a good refreshing drink for hot days. I also add it to my smoothies.

For store bought juice, POM is my favorite brand and it’s 100% pomegranate juice. They sell POM a little cheaper on Amazon which you can check out by clicking here, pomegranate juice.

Use It In A Fruit Salad

When your pomegranates are unripe, a great thing you could do with them is to make a fruit salad. Typically, many people use a variety of fruits that go well together. Most people throw in any fruit they can find around the house.

When you take unripe pomegranates and make them into a fruit salad, you would mask any bitterness you would have if you ate the pomegranate alone.

One of the best ways to make fruit salad is to use cranberry as the juice. When you add cranberry juice to a fruit salad, you enhance the flavor and most importantly, you make the fruit salad refreshing.

It might be tempting to think you could make pomegranate juice and add it to the fruit salad instead of cranberry juice. That’s perfectly fine as long as you understand it may make the salad a little bitter but so is cranberry juice if it’s unsweetened.

Add The Pomegranate To A Smoothie

If you have a blender at home, you could make a pomegranate smoothie. I make them all the time and add some strawberries and blueberries.

Fruit smoothies are a staple for many people who workout or make fitness a part of their lifestyle. Smoothies are a quick On-The-Go snack and healthy meal. To boost the protein, I’ll add some organic plant based protein powder, natural peanut butter or tofu.

Bake With Unripe Pomegranates

Let’s take a look at some of the things you can bake with pomegranates, specifically when they’re not yet ripe.

Pomegranate muffins: If you bake muffins, why not add pomegranate to a batch? You’ll have a healthy and great tasting breakfast muffin for those mornings where you need an on-the-go breakfast.

Pomegranate pie: If you have a few unripe pomegranates, you do not want to waste, make a pomegranate pie instead of an apple pie. It’s the same concept and same cooking/baking methods.

As you can see, there’s no limit as to what you can do with pomegranates, especially unripe ones. In addition, you can cook with them. There are many cultures that use fruits to add flavor to their dishes.

Wrapping Up

If you have any questions about pomegranates or any other healthy foods, be sure to check out a few of our other articles listed below.

At the end of the day, there is a lot you can do with unripe pomegranates. There is no need to waste them if you end up buying some. Always remember to inspect all your food products before you buy them. Remember, you cannot ripen pomegranates once they have been picked from their tree

Here’s What To Do With Unripe Pomegranates