Tips: How to Identify a Ripe Pomegranate

[gf38238]

It’s Pomegranate season, so I thought I would share the information on how to find if a pomegranate is ripe and ready to pick? Much like figs or Peaches, Poms stop ripening once they are picked. However, if you leave them on the tree until they over-ripen, they will probably split and lose their flavor.

Just like figs, the flavor is incredible when you pick them when they are properly ripe, however, it is not always easy to figure out when these fruits are at the peak ripeness. I have often struggled too to pick them at the right time. For Poms (Parfianka, in my case), I came across the tips from Alabama Pomegranate Association fb page that I have found very helpful to pick the Poms at the proper ripeness:

How do you know when a pomegranate is ripe?

Cracked - Not the best method. I hear so many people say they wait till a pomegranate cracks open. A cracked pomegranate can be the result of infrequent irrigation. It is also an invitation for pest and aril damage.

Color - Not the best method. Pomegranate can range in color from red, to pink, to yellow, to orange, to purple, to black, and even remain green. There are many different varieties of pomegranates that are very different in look and taste.

Feel Heavy - A ripe pomegranate should feel heavy for it’s size. This is a big indication that the arils are full of juice. Heavy ripe pomegranates give more juice.

Scratch Test - The outer skin becomes a little soft, if you are able to make a scratch by finger nail, with gentle pressure, then it is ripe. Usually before ripening the skin is hard and tight, and cannot be easily scratched.

Smoothness Test - Rub your finger over the surface of the pomegranate. The skin should be smooth(exception paper shell varieties). A ripe pomegranate outer skin will have been stretched out due to the pressure of the juicy, plump aril sacs filing up with juice.

Metallic Sound - Ripe pomegranates make a metallic sound when you tap on them several times.

Check the crown - Look at the top of the fruit. If the little petal-shaped appendages at the top are turned slightly inward, your pomegranate is ripe and ready to eat.

The shape - The unripe fruit is exactly round in shape like an Asian pear. But at the stage of ripening, the round shape is changed with sides slightly becoming square. It appears to have ridges. This happens due to the arils, which reach to the maximum size of juice content, and it presses against the outer wall. The pomegranate has four slots inside the fruit. The round shape is stressed and the fruit looks flattened from four sides. Ripe pomegranates lose their round shape.

The Sugar/Acid Ratio - Harvest maturity is determined by sugar and acid contents, sugar: acid ratio. This is tested by using a Brix Refractometer. This is recommended for the variety called “Wonderful”. The acids should be lower than 1.85 percent, soluble sugar content greater than 16 to 17 percent, and the sugar: acid ratio greater than 18.5.

Please share if you have any other tips.

[Stan]

@gf38238

However, if you leave them on the tree until they over-ripen, they will probably split and lose their flavor.

I’m not sure what you mean by “lose their flavor”. I had pomegranates in January from abandoned trees and they tasted great. Obviously, if a pomegranate splits, it becomes susceptible to elements and insects that are likely to cause spoilage and rot, so I do not recommend leaving split poms on a tree. However, unlike figs that go from ripe to overripe in a day, I do not believe that there is such a thing as an overripe pomegranate.

I should add that sometimes, especially on young pomegranate trees, there are small fruits that develop late and never fully ripen, they would just dry out if left on the tree. This special case is an exception from the statement above.

[Stan]

Regarding the general question in the topic title, after picking pomegranates of a specific variety for a few seasons you will know whether they’re ripe just by looking at them. The human brain is remarkably good at pattern recognition.

[JCT]

Thank you for sharing! I’ve saved this for future use

[Vault22dweller]

I’ve noticed that pomegranates lose their flavor in that they get too sweet. They just taste sweet, instead of wineish, or sweet-tart.

[ammoun]

I have been recently trying to solve this problem. I noticed that in the few varieties that I grow, a pom reaches its ideal picking time, after which the acidity starts to fade out is when the very first drying marks around the bottom of the fruit appear.

For example, this one was excellent:

This in the other hand, although a different variety but this was mostly sweet, and even dry’ish berries.

They were both esthetically excellent.

[PomGranny]

Like Stan . . . my split pomegranates always taste great. I do not have decent irrigation out in my orchard, but I’m working on that this fall. So, my fruit almost always gets a tough skin - and then eventually crack. Maybe with more consistent water, they will maintain a more pliable skin.
I have a lot of damaged small fruit - which I clip off - to try to control the fungus problem. I keep an eye on the fruit development and usually get to the cracked ones, before the bugs do.
This year was a total bust. Too much humidity this summer and too much fungal damage.

[Monardella]

I just sent a link for this thread to a friend that had most of his pomegranates stripped off his tree by “strangers”. His neighbors tree was also stripped. He managed to save a couple of unripe fruits (arils colored nicely on one side of fruit but not on the other, that sort of thing). So this info is perfect.

[PomGranny]

That is horrid.
I have also seen trees on properties, with all the fruit just left to rot. Actually, that is how I learned that pomegranates really do grow in Virginia!

[Monardella]

I was thinking that this topic would make a fun thread…stories about fruit stealing.

[alanmercieca]

Each variety seems a little different, climate makes a difference, and the bigger the fruit the easier to tell if it’s ripe, that has been the case for me, the ones ripening when the nights are cooler nights, are harder to tell when they are ripe, that has been the case for me. I am still trying to figure it out, between my research, and the 10 fruit on our bushes this year.

[PomGranny]

OK. This isn’t a new thread, but I have a funny story about ‘Fruit Stealing’.

We have 3 mature pecan trees, which I planted years ago. However, we have never gotten a single pecan. Not because the trees don’t produce them, but because they disappear before we can harvest them.

The first year that we noticed that we had lots of pecans, and were looking forward to seeing how they would taste . . . they were just about ready to pick and we woke up one morning and they were all gone. All of them. In one day. Or rather, in one night.

Well, the gardeners who mow our property had been there the day before . . . and so we thought that they had cleaned off the tree. I complained to their boss.

The next year - same thing.

At that time we had a very small squirrel population. We hardly ever saw a squirrel. But, I began to think that maybe I had blamed the wrong ‘people’ for the pecans’ disappearance! So, the next year we were ready and waiting to catch ‘whoever’ was doing the stealing!

We didn’t have the same guys mowing the yard, anymore . . . so we had ruled them out. Besides, that seemed rather unlikely, anyway. (I called and apologized for blaming them.) Short of staying up all night, or setting up a wildlife camera and watching for raccoons, possums and other 4-legged ‘nut-grabbers’ (LOL) we didn’t know how we’d figure it out.

To this day, we have never gotten a ripe pecan. We have tried tree collars of all kinds. And we still try to catch any critter climbing the trees. No luck. We just decided to live without pecans!

[mamuang]

I can’t even figure out whether or not store-bought perfect looking pomegranates were good or not.

Bought this from a local supermarket. My guess was it was CA pome.

[mamuang]

But the inside was another story.

[Monardella]

Great story. My neighbor also has a pecan tree from which she never got nuts. First it was the scrub jays dive-bombing the tree (“flashes of blue” as she describes it). Then the fox squirrels moved in, eating the nuts still immature.

[gf38238]

@Monradella, If you mean critters, I can tell you that neither rats, squirrels, or birds have damaged my non cracked Poms so far (about 8 years). Perhaps, I’ve been just lucky. Although, a couple of cracked and left on tree poms that ultimated opened up wide this year got their shell emptied by something (most likely rats).

[gf38238]

@ammoun, your Poms look fantastic! You have an interesting way to find out whether those varieties are ripe or not. For my Parfianka, I do not have to wait until the very first drying marks appear around the bottom of the fruit appear. The fruit is at peak ripeness even if the tip (Calyx) is still on the fruit.

For me, 2 things that gives me so far rock solid way to find out out if the Parfiank is at their prime 1) The color of the fruit - dark Pink/Red AND, 2) The ridges formed on the fruit and is no longer smooth round. This has not failed me yet to pick the Pom at the right ripeness. Ofcourse, this method does not work for all Pom varieties.

btw, what varieties are these poms you mention?

[gf38238]

Here’s a Parfiafianka fruit I picked (2nd of the season) yesterday. It’s pretty big (almost 1lb in weight and 15" circumference) and very ripe. Have a look at the dark arils that are loaded with juice with an excellent balance of flavors.

[ammoun]

Very gorgeous!

[ammoun]

That’s uncommon to me for a pom to rotten from the bottom, I usually see that start from the crown side when insects manage to get inside.