Pomegranates are a fruit that you may not encounter often because they're kind of expensive and hard to work with. Even though they may seem hard to crack into, this simple hack makes it a lot easier and less messy.

Pomegranates have a beautiful dark red color, but if you're not careful, that color could be splattered all over your kitchen. Even though they may seem fussy, they're a great snack because they're a superfood. Next time you need a crunchy snack, use this hack to harness the power of the pomegranate.

What you need

Elise DeVoe

All you need to seed a pomegranate without making a mess is a knife, a pomegranate, a cutting board, and a bowl of water at room temperature. The water should be at room temperature because if you want to combine the pomegranate seeds with chocolate, they need to be room temperature so that the chocolate does not seize up.

Step 1: Score your pomegranate

pear, apple, pomegranate
Elise DeVoe

The first step is to score the bottom of the pomegranate. You just cut through the skin diagonally on both sides so that you can break it apart later on. This step is usually the one that creates the biggest mess because when you cut all the way through a pomegranate, all of the juice comes right out. 

pasture, juice, pomegranate, apple
Elise DeVoe

Once you've scored both sides, the pomegranate should look like this. Make sure there's no red juice dripping everywhere and staining your cutting board.

Step 2: Place it into the water

sweet, apple, juice, pomegranate
Elise DeVoe

Next, you want to place your scored pomegranate into the bowl of water. This step is major because the water keeps all the juices of the pomegranate contained, so you don't have to worry about staining your kitchen.

Step 3: Get in there and break it up

sweet, vegetable
Elise DeVoe

This step requires a bit of manhandling. Your hands are your best tools in the kitchen, so get in there and break apart that pomegranate. I would say get down and dirty, but your hands will actually remain clean so...awk.

Step 4: Dump out the useless parts

Elise DeVoe

While you're breaking up the pomegranate, you can discard everything but the seeds in a separate bowl or throw it away. The great part about seeding the pomegranate in water is that the seeds sink to the bottom and the other stuff floats on top.

Step 5: Drain that ish

pomegranate, coffee, beans
Elise DeVoe

Make sure the holes on your colander aren't too big, you don't want all those beautiful seeds you just worked on to just fall through into your sink.

Step 6: Enjoy the seeds in your clean kitchen

vegetable, juice, sweet, cranberry, pomegranate, berry
Dina Zaret

Even though they're almost too pretty to eat, treat yourself to the delicious seeds to reward yourself for keeping your kitchen nice and clean.