How to Know if a Pomegranate (Anar) Is Sweet Without Cutting It

Ignore the colour and pick up the ugly one. A sweet, juicy anar feels heavy for its size, has flat, almost squared-off sides instead of a perfect ball, and gives a metallic, tight “tink” when you tap it. That’s how to know if pomegranate is sweet without cutting it. This guide adds the varieties by name, what a bad anar looks like, how to store and seed it without a red kitchen, what anar really does for you, and who should be careful.

Anar varieties you’ll see, and what they taste like

The lesson in this table is that Ganesh anar is pale pink inside and still sweet, while a deep red Kandhari can be dry and disappointing, because skin and aril colour tell you about the variety far more than they tell you about ripeness or sugar. The sour desi type is the one dried into anardana, covered in our anardana and peel guide.

How to know if pomegranate is sweet: 6 checks at the stall

1. Lift two of the same size. Keep the heavier one. Weight means juice-filled arils; a light anar is dry inside.
2. Look for flat faces. As arils swell, they push the skin outwards and the fruit loses its round shape. Slightly squared or angular sides are a good sign.
3. Run your palm over it. The skin should be taut and leathery, a little rough is fine. Soft, sunken or squashy patches mean rot starting.
4. Tap it with a fingernail. A ripe one gives a crisp, metallic sound. A dull thud can mean dry or rotting arils.
5. Check the crown. The little flower crown at the top should be dry and brownish. Look inside it for mould or powdery grey dust.
6. Press gently. Firm with a tiny give is right. Rock hard with no weight is often under-filled.

Small cracks in the skin usually mean the fruit was very ripe on the tree, which can be sweet, but cracked fruit spoils faster and lets insects in, so eat it the same day and look inside the crack for mould.

How to know if a pomegranate is good or bad after cutting

• Good: plump, shiny, firm arils that burst when pressed.
• Tired but fine: a few pale or shrivelled arils. Pick them out.
• Bad: brown, soft, mushy arils, a vinegar or alcohol smell, or grey fuzz. Throw away the whole section.
• Black heart: sometimes the outside looks perfect and the centre is black and rotten. That’s a fungal rot that gets in through the crown while the fruit is still on the tree, and it can’t be spotted at the stall every time, so don’t blame yourself and do mention it to a seller you buy from often.

How to store anar so it lasts

• Whole, room: 1 to 2 weeks in a cool, airy spot, not in a sealed bag.
• Whole, fridge: in the crisper, up to about 2 months. The skin dries and hardens but the arils stay good.
• Arils, fridge: in a covered box for up to about 5 days.
• Arils, freezer: spread on a tray, freeze, then bag. They keep for months. Thawed arils go soft, so use them in raita, chutney or smoothies rather than chaat.

How to seed a pomegranate without splashing juice everywhere

1. Rinse the fruit and cut off the crown, about 1 cm down.
2. Look at the top. You’ll see white ridges. Score the skin lightly along each ridge, top to bottom, only skin deep.
3. Pull the fruit apart with your hands into sections.
4. Hold a section face down in a big bowl of water and push the arils out with your thumbs.
5. The white pith floats, the arils sink. Skim off the pith and drain.

The quick way: halve it across, hold a half cut side down over a bowl and whack the back hard with a wooden spoon. Messier, faster.

Anar juice stains. Badly.

What anar does for you, honestly

• Fibre: eaten with the seeds, half a cup of arils gives around 3 to 4 g. The crunchy seed is where most of it sits.
• Vitamins: a useful source of vitamin K and folate, and some vitamin C.
• Polyphenols: anar is rich in punicalagins and other plant compounds. They’re why pomegranate is so popular in research, but lab results don’t turn into promises for a person eating a bowl.

What’s hype: anar is not an iron-rich fruit and won’t fix anaemia by itself. That myth and the juicing question are covered in our anar iron myth piece. For sugar and portions, see is anar good for diabetes.

Whole arils beat juice, because a glass of juice uses 2 or 3 fruits, drops most of the seed fibre and goes down in seconds.

Anar recipes and combos

Anar raita (serves 2)

1. Whisk 1 cup plain dahi with a pinch of salt and roasted zeera.
2. Stir in 4 tbsp arils and 1 tbsp chopped mint.
3. Serve cold with pulao or biryani.

Anar chana chaat (one plate)

1. Mix 1 cup boiled chana with 1 small chopped onion and 1 chopped tomato.
2. Add 3 tbsp arils, lemon juice, chaat masala and green chilli to taste.
3. The chana gives protein, the anar gives crunch and sourness.

Fresh anar juice, the better way (one glass)

1. Blend 1 cup arils with 1/2 cup water for 10 seconds only, so the seeds don’t turn bitter.
2. Strain, or drink it unstrained for more fibre.
3. Add a squeeze of lemon, no sugar. Drink it fresh; it goes flat and browns in hours.

Good pairings: arils on salads, oats, dahi or chickpeas. Eating anar with an iron-rich meal like chana or daal adds a little vitamin C, which helps plant iron absorb a bit better.

Peel, seeds and pith

Seeds: the crunchy inner seed is edible and safe. Swallow or chew; both are fine. They carry most of the fibre.

Pith: the white membrane is very bitter but harmless. Just not pleasant.

Peel: the rind is thick with tannins, which is why it tastes so astringent. Dried peel has a long tradition in desi homes (below). Don’t eat raw peel in quantity; it’s hard on the stomach, and the outside carries whatever was sprayed on the tree.

In desi homes: dried anar peel and sharbat

Grandmothers sun-dry the peel and keep it for loose motions and for gargles for a sore throat, and the tannins in peel are astringent, the same drying, puckering action you feel on your tongue, so the idea has a basis. It’s tradition, not a tested treatment, and it doesn’t replace ORS. Bottled sharbat anar is mostly sugar; the homemade kind is compared in our sharbat guide.

When home care isn’t enough: for diarrhoea, give ORS and see a doctor for blood in the stool, fever over 39 °C, a baby with fewer wet nappies, or any adult who can’t keep fluids down.

Anar for skin: keep it on the plate

There’s no strong face-pack use for fresh anar, because the juice stains, it’s acidic, and the good compounds do their work better when you eat them. If you want a simple pack, mash 1 tbsp arils into 2 tbsp dahi, leave on for 10 minutes, rinse, once a week at most.

Myth: every pomegranate has 613 seeds

The truth is the count varies a lot, from a few hundred to well over a thousand, depending on the size and variety. The number 613 comes from a religious tradition matching the 613 commandments in the Torah, and people repeat it because it’s a lovely story. Count yours; it won’t match.

Did you know?

• Botanically a pomegranate is a kind of berry, packed with hundreds of seeds each wrapped in juicy flesh.
• The crown on top is what’s left of the flower’s calyx. It stays on as the fruit grows.
• Grenade, the weapon, takes its name from the French for pomegranate, grenade, because early ones looked like it and were packed with pellets like seeds.

Pomegranate questions answered

Find more seasonal buying guides in Fruits and Vegetables, including our apple picking guide.