When Are Pomegranates Ripe and on the Market? Can You Eat Them Unripe? Seven Tricks to Tell Ripe from Unripe
As the saying goes, “On the fifteenth of the eighth month, the moon is due south; melons and pomegranates fill every plate”, which shows just how popular pomegranates are at Mid-Autumn Festival. Of course, the pomegranate is also one of the most popular fruits of summer. It is not only highly nutritious but also good for beauty, skin care and digestion, so many people love to eat it. So when are pomegranates ripe and on the market? Can you eat them unripe? Seven tricks to easily tell whether they are ripe!
1. When are pomegranates ripe and on the market?
Pomegranates come in many varieties and are grown in different regions, so their market times also differ. However, the flowering period is generally from May to June, the ripening period is from September to October, and they usually reach the market around Mid-Autumn Festival.
2. Can you eat pomegranates unripe?
Unripe pomegranates can be eaten, but it is best not to eat them this way. Unripe pomegranates do not taste good: they are especially sour and rather astringent, so try to wait until the pomegranate has ripened before eating it. Only then are both the nutritional value and the taste at their best.
3. What should you do if a pomegranate is unripe?
1. You can let it ripen
Like many other fruits, pomegranates can be left to ripen. In fact, pomegranates keep fairly well; if stored properly, they can last several months. Getting a pomegranate to ripen is actually quite simple: put it together with ripe fruits such as ripe apples, pears or bananas, which can help speed up ripening. If it is left alone, it may ripen relatively slowly.
2. Signs of ripeness
The first sign that a pomegranate is ripe is its skin: the skin color changes from green to yellow and looks glossy, some parts bulge outward, and the arils are fairly plump. You will also notice some needle-like streaks among the arils, and some pomegranates split open when they are quite ripe.
3. Do not eat them unripe
It is best not to eat pomegranates unripe. Unripe pomegranates do not taste good: they are especially sour and rather astringent, so try to wait until the pomegranate has ripened before eating it. Only then are both the nutritional value and the taste at their best.
4. How do you tell whether they are ripe?
1. Look at the gloss. The pomegranate skin is smooth, and when choosing a pomegranate you can also judge how good it is by the glossiness of the skin. If the skin is smooth and shiny, the pomegranate is fresh; on the other hand, if the skin is not very smooth and has dark spots, it means the pomegranate has been stored for a long time and is no longer fresh.
2. Check the firmness. When choosing a pomegranate, you can press the skin lightly with your fingertip. A ripe, plump pomegranate has tight skin and flesh and feels firm when pressed, while a pomegranate that is not fresh or has already gone rotten inside will feel soft and rather loose when pressed.
3. Look at the opening. A pomegranate that has grown and ripened normally splits open naturally, and such an opening does not affect the quality or taste of the pomegranate. But some pomegranates open unnaturally because of rain and sun exposure, and such an opening affects the taste of the pomegranate, while the arils are also not plump enough.
4. Look at the wounds. When choosing pomegranates, it is best to choose ones with no wounds on the surface. A pomegranate with intact skin and no scratches can be stored relatively long, and if possible it is best if it still has a section of stem attached. This is because if the pomegranate skin is injured and scarred, the pomegranate loses water relatively quickly and is hard to keep.
5. Pick the time. The pomegranate fruit ripens from September to October each year. Pomegranates bought during this period are the best and freshest, and their taste and quality are the most reliable. At other times of year, you need to choose carefully and be sure not to buy a spoiled pomegranate.
6. Compare the weight. Pomegranates are rich in water, and especially ripe, fresh pomegranates are full of moisture, so correspondingly the better the pomegranate, the heavier it will be. When choosing pomegranates, you can place two pomegranates of the same size in your two palms and weigh them; generally the heavier one is fresher and has more moisture.
7. Smell the aroma. Generally speaking, a pomegranate tightly wrapped in its skin will not have much of a smell, but if the fruit inside has already deteriorated and gone rotten, then it will clearly give off an unpleasant odor, which is easy to detect.
5. How do you store pomegranates?
1. Hanging storage: For fruit used for hanging storage, leave a section of fruit stalk when harvesting, bind them into bunches with fine string, and hang them in a cool room. Alternatively, wrap the fruit in newspaper or plastic film and hang it indoors where the temperature varies little; it can be stored until around Spring Festival. If storing pomegranates this way, harvest them half a month early; overripe pomegranates rot easily in hanging storage.
2. Heap storage: Choose an empty, well-ventilated, cool room, sweep it clean, and sprinkle it with a suitable amount of water to keep the room clean and moist. Then spread a 5-6 cm thick layer of rice straw (or fresh masson pine needles) on the ground, and on top of it cover everything with one layer of pomegranates and one layer of pine needles. During storage, turn and check the heap once every 15-20 days, remove rotten fruit and replace the pine needles once. With this heap storage method, storage varieties can be kept until April or May of the following year.
3. Jar storage: Wash containers such as jars and crocks clean, then spread a layer of wet sand with 5% moisture content, 5-6 cm thick, on the bottom. In the center stand a bundle of sorghum stalks or a bamboo tube to allow air exchange. Arrange pomegranates around the sorghum stalk bundle or bamboo tube until they reach 5-6 cm from the jar mouth, then cover them firmly with wet sand and seal the mouth of the jar or vat with plastic film, tying it tight. After storage, check once a month and remove any rotten fruit promptly. This storage method can keep them until March or April of the following year.
4. Bag storage: Put pomegranates that have been pre-cooled and sterilized into polyethylene plastic film bags, tie the bag mouths well, and place them in a cool room. Stored this way for 140 days, the pomegranate fruit is still as fresh as ever. You can also pack sterilized pomegranate fruit individually in plastic bags; stored at 3-4℃ for 100 days, the arils stay fresh and the husk scald is mild. Individual bag storage works better than other methods.