Fruit of labour

If it weren’t so hard to peel and deseed the pomegranate, perhaps its popularity...

If it weren’t so hard to peel and deseed the pomegranate, perhaps its popularity would surge multifold. This may have served as partial motivation for the Ludhiana-based Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering & Technology (CIPHET), which has manufactured a tool to ease the tedious process of extracting pomegranate arils.

This will not only help in increasing its consumption—fresh arils or after being processed into various products are likely to have a promising market—but also save it from damage while harvesting and prevent storage losses. Presently, there is no mechanical method or machine commercially available for safe separation of arils, and CIPHET is negotiating with prominent hand-tool manufacturers in Punjab for its commercial manufacture.

The pomegranate aril extractor safely removes the fruit from the tree, breaks the fruit gently and recovers the edible portions. The tool consists of fruit holders with a knife arrangement which only penetrates the peel. The fruit is held between the holders, which are turned by hand in opposite directions and helps break the pomegranate into two irregular halves. The fruit experiences a shearing effect and the arils are loosened, which are then easy to separate. About 20-25 per cent arils get separated in the process of irregular breaking due to the shearing action, and the fingers can easily separate the remaining ones.

Since a pomegranate contains several hundreds of arils, manual processing of pomegranates consisting of cutting the fruit by knife into pieces and the separation of arils is inefficient, labour-intensive, time consuming and irritating. The traditional method of extraction involves cutting the fruit in pieces and removing the arils by hitting with a wooden mallet. This method cuts the arils and reduces their shelf-life.