By RIPE, checked against a produce manager's cues. Published .
Go by weight and shape. A good pomegranate is heavy for its size with a leathery, slightly dull skin, and it should feel flat-sided or angular rather than perfectly round, because full arils swell and push the shell out of shape. Pomegranates do not ripen after picking, so this is entirely a buying decision.
What to check
🤲
Feelheavy for its size is the strongest single cue, since weight is juice.
👁️
Lookleathery rather than glossy skin. A shiny, taut, perfectly round fruit is usually underdeveloped inside.
✅
Not a problemsmall brown scuffs and scratches on the skin. Those are cosmetic and say nothing about the arils underneath.
⚠️
Avoidsoft spots, splits, or a fruit that feels light. Splits let mold in and it spreads through the sections quickly.
📅
Buying for whenNorthern Hemisphere season is autumn into early winter, and that is when they are worth buying.
Common mistakewaiting for it to ripen on the counter. It will not get better, only drier. Buy heavy, use it while it is heavy.
Written by the team behind RIPE, a free app that reads a photo of the whole produce pile and rings the ripest ones. Every cue above is one you can check with your own hands, and it all works with no app at all.
You just read the cue for one piece. RIPE reads a photo of the entire display, draws numbered rings on the ones worth taking, and tells you why in the same plain words these guides use. Then it remembers what you brought home and nudges you before it turns.
It claims only what a camera can actually see. Every verdict ends by handing the last check back to your hands, which is the part these guides just taught you.
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