I first made this Pomegranate Sangria for our annual Oscar party that we host with our staff team. I like to pretend that I’m fancy and have a fancy job to dress up for one night a year. It is rare for me to drink wine because I get intense migraines if I have more than a few sips. But I love Sangria, and so far, I’ve been able to get away with drinking a full glass of Sangria with no allergic reactions or migraines.

This recipe is full of fall and winter fruit, so I decided to make it for Thanksgiving. I doubled the recipe, and it disappeared, so I think it was a crowd-pleaser. Flan and Sangria… those were my Thanksgiving contributions this year! Obviously a different kind of Thanksgiving, which I didn’t mind because I don’t love Thanksgiving food. There was also a hunting party that went out to hunt iguana in order to provide iguana tacos for all to try. All did not try.

I had to alter the recipe a bit since I couldn’t find everything I needed down here in PR. Or because our liquor cabinet is sparse apart from all the flavored local rums and I wasn’t willing to buy Grand Marnier. But I did find pomegranate, imported as is almost all of the produce. We have experimented with many a Youtube video instruction for how to remove the pomegranate arils. The most entertaining one entailed Ryan smacking the mess out of it with a wooden spoon. While fun, it was messy as it flung pomegranate juice all over the kitchen.

In an effort to save you time and mess, here’s the way I now remove the arils from a pomegranate. You’ll need a knife, cutting board, and a bowl of cold water.

First, make sure to choose a heavy pomegranate.

That means it should be filled with lots of juicy seeds.

Now that you have that, put on an apron or at least something old or dark. While this method isn’t as messy as others, you may still get juice on yourself, and red stains are so hard to remove. If your countertop stains, cover the surface.

Cut an “X” about one-inch deep at the top of the pomegranate.

With the “X” facing down over a bowl of cold water, use your (clean) hands to split the pomegranate open into fourths.

Working with one quarter at a time, submerge the pomegranate under the water and use your fingers to gently remove the arils from the membrane. It’s ok if some of the membrane comes off into the water. It will float to the top as the arils sink to the bottom, and you can just skim it off with a spoon or pour it off.

Drain the arils, and either eat them, use them for Sangria or refrigerate them. They will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.