My mother-in-law is a pomegranate juicing expert. I watch her every day lovingly peeling, seeding and juicing pomegranates for an hour for her husband. She goes through so many pomegranates that the two trees on the property don't produce enough fruit for her. You may wonder why she doesn't just buy commercially prepared pomegranate juice, but once you try it at home you'll know the difference. The commercial varieties (even those with 100% juice) are prepared from concentrate, which definitely affects the flavor. My mother-in-law is actually so fanatical about the flavor of the pomegranates that she takes a knife to the grocery store, buys one, and makes sure it is sweet before buying a lot more.

She first started juicing the seeds with a juice extractor, but found that this wasted a lot of juice, so she has come up with a tried-and-true method for extracting every last drop. Read on to learn her tips. She could merely gather 1/2 cup of juice out of 5 pomegranates in the juicer waste bin; the pomegranate seeds would still be very moist.

She now uses a blender to juice the pomegranates, seeds and all. She then strains the juice from the pulverized seeds, and then uses a double layered cheese cloth to extract every last drop of juice.

All you need is 5 large ripe pomegranates to get about two and a half cups. First, wear dark-colored clothes. Pomegranates stain! Trim the crown using a sharp paring knife. Gently cut the outside skin around the fruit without touching the seeds, creating 6 wedges around the fruit. Gently open the fruit with your thumbs and scoop the seeds out (without bruising them) onto a deep large platter. Remove and discard the white membrane.

In a blender, gather the seeds of the 5 pomegranates, 1/2 cup of ice cubes and 1/3 cup of water for a smooth flow. Blend until very smooth. Strain the liquid through a medium-mesh strainer. Collect the pomegranate pulp in a double-layered cheese cloth and drain as much liquid as possible (use food service disposable gloves). Strain the pomegranate juice one more time through a fine-mesh sieve. Use the pomegranate seed remnants for the soil of your garden.

You'll get 2-1/2 cups of fresh pomegranate juice. No need for additional sweetener if you picked ripe pomegranates.

Enjoy!