Catherine Sebastian, MS, RD<\/a>, a registered dietitian for The Wonderful Company, told Health.\n<\/p>\n You can even give a pomegranate a gentle squeeze or light toss in the air to gauge its density as well as its weight. \u201cA good pomegranate should feel solid and dense, not airy or hollow,\u201d said Lopez.\n<\/p>\n
A pomegranate\u2019s texture can tell you a lot about the quality of fruit inside. Woodson recommends choosing one with taut skin and a leathery appearance.\n<\/p>\n
The best fruit will also be free of cracks or bruises, she said. While cracks can sometimes result from overwatering, they may also indicate a fungal infection. For food safety, it\u2019s best to steer clear of fruits that have split.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Bruising, meanwhile, can affect a pomegranate\u2019s juiciness\u2014and therefore its nutritional value. A 2023 study compared bruised and unbruised pomegranates stored for 28 days and found that bruised ones were less firm, smaller, and lighter than non-bruised ones.\n<\/p>\n
Other textural signs to avoid are a soft feel and shriveled skin, which may indicate overripeness or even that a fruit is starting to ferment, Lopez said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
And of course, if you spot visible mold or detect an off smell, don\u2019t put that pomegranate in your shopping cart.\n<\/p>\n
A ruby-red color may be pomegranates\u2019 most distinguishing feature, but it doesn\u2019t reveal as much about ripeness as you might think. \u201cThe outside of a ripe pomegranate can vary from light pink to a deep ruby red,\u201d said Sebastian. \u201cThe rind does not have to be a perfect red to be filled with the most beautiful juicy arils.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Rather than focusing too much on color, Woodson suggests using weight, shape, and texture as more reliable guides of ripeness.\n<\/p>\n
However, Lopez noted that consistent coloration is a good sign. \u201cUneven or patchy color can mean the fruit ripened unevenly, leading to variable sweetness and nutrient distribution inside.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
When faced with a pile of pomegranates at the store, keep three factors top of mind: weight, shape, and texture. These signs could mean the difference between taking home a lackluster fruit and one that\u2019s ripe and brimming with antioxidants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s peak pomegranate season in the United States, which means you might be scanning grocery store aisles for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[97,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-256664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}