Real Food Basics

What to Do with Pomegranate Seeds – Real Food Basics

Pomegranate seeds are juicy and sweet seeds from the pomegranate fruit that contain very high levels of anti-oxidants.

Pomegranate seeds are juicy and sweet seeds from the pomegranate fruit that contain very high levels of polyphenols (anti-oxidants). Anti-oxidants help cleanse your body from free radicals, which can cause cell damage that leads to many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even the process of aging. So it’s important for your health to choose foods that contain a lot of anti-oxidants – and pomegranate seeds are one easy and delicious way of doing so! 🙂

In Real Food Basics, I will generally be focusing on vegetables, but I wanted to add in Pomegranate Seeds to the series because of how easy and fun it is to use them in food! So this week I’ll be sharing some ways of how you can use Pomegranate seeds in food, and hopefully it’ll inspire you to add these little bombs of anti-oxidants into your diet, especially during the winter months when they’re in season.

It can be a bit complicated to get the seeds out of a pomegranate the first time you try, but practice makes perfect. You can also find frozen pomegranate seeds in most grocery stores, but fresh seeds look and taste the best of course.

I have 2 different ways I use to open up a pomegranate…

If the pomegranate skin is tight and firm, I use this way:

Roll the pomegranate on a flat surface to start loosening up the seeds.
Take a knife and cut around the middle, but only cut through the skin, not through the whole pomegranate.
Tear it open into halves using your hands. Now hold half the pomegranate over a bowl with the seeds facing your hand.
Tap the skin with a wooden spoon and the seeds will start falling out into the bowl.

If the pomegranate is a bit softer (more ripe) I’ve noticed that the above method doesn’t work as well, so then I use this method:

Divide the pomegranate in the same way as above (see number 1-2 above).
Using your hands to open up the pomegranate halves into smaller pieces, along the white ridges. This will open up the clusters of pomegranate seeds that you can easily remove from the peel and place in a bowl.

Pomegranates last a couple weeks in room temperature and a few months stored in a fridge.

What to make with pomegranate seeds:

Real Food Basics

What to Do with Eggplant – Real Food Basics

Eggplant, or aubergine as it’s called in most of the world, is one of few fruits that you should never eat raw (yes it’s actually a fruit, not a vegetable!). Because of it’s unique skin, eggplant is one produce that is not as important to buy organic.

Eggplant is often called “poor man’s meat” because when cooked well it has a little similar taste to meat. My favorite meat & eggplant combination is ground meat and cubed eggplant, fried together with chopped onion in coconut oil. Add some salt, pepper and a bit of cinnamon (sounds weird but it’s really good!). You can also add some cayenne pepper. Serve this dish together with cauliflower rice or add some cooked beans and eat it with a spoon. The most important thing i that you try eggplant with ground meat, because it’s really good!! 🙂

What to make with eggplant: