Juice From Pomegranates – POM Wonderful Review

It’s been proven that pomegranates have been cultivated by humans at least as far back as 1000 B.C.  In today’s time, they are touted as an excellent source of antioxidants.  But, have you ever tried to eat a pomegranate?  They contain a very high concentration of seeds, which makes the juice from pomegranates a preferred method for reaping the benefits from this antioxidant laden fruit.  I have seen the POM Wonderful product on shelves, so when they offered me a chance to review their product, I decided to give it a shot.

Juice From Pomegranates

I should probably start by admitting that I’m not normally a fan of juice products.  Most juice products have a extra sugar added to them, so consuming them ends up adding empty calories.  My reasoning is that without the additional fiber, why bother.  There are many other sources of the vitamins touted to be in most juice products.  But about two years ago, I started reading a fair bit about the juice from pomegranates, and its potential benefits.  I happened across a selection of pomegranates in a local store and bought one on a lark.  Cutting it open showed me exactly why wouldn’t want to eat one of these suckers.  So I decided to see about adding it to my morning smoothies.

A search for pomegranate juices on local store shelves turned up a lot of pomegranate juice blends.  A review of product ingredients showed the major ingredients to be less expensive juices (pear, grape, apple) with a splash of pomegranate to add some flavor.  Some searching did yield a 100% pomegranate juice product, which I’ve been using in small quantities (4-6 ounces) in my morning smoothies on occasion.

The question of why one would consider consuming the juice from pomegranates is valid.  There are a variety of potential health benefits to be gleaned from pomegranates.  Some of which include:  reducing the risk of heart disease, reducing high blood pressure, and inhibiting viral infection.  There are a variety of other possible benefits as well, which are reviewed more fully, here.

POM Wonderful Review

The first thing you observe about the POM products is the “curvy bottle.”  You won’t mistake the product for anything else.  The other thing worth noting is that it is shipped refrigerated, which is different than other pomegranate juices I’ve seen.  Bottles contain a mild sediment, which seems to be characteristic of all pomegranate juice products.  They recommend shaking before use.  To compare, I took a sample of the product I normally use and poured out a cup to try against the POM product.  Both yield a characteristic tart/sweet flavor I’ve come to expect of this particular juice product.  You may be able to make a case for the POM product being a bit more sweet, but it’s not a dramatic difference.

My kids saw what I was doing, and immediately decided it was a science experiment, so they crowded right over to get in on the action.  I figured “why not” and gave them each a cup of the POM product.  The younger one (5 years old) took one drink and decided it wasn’t his speed, and so high-tailed it out of the kitchen.  The older one is at the age where he likes tart flavors (age 8), so he lasted a bit longer, but didn’t care for the aftertaste.

I decided to solicit a few opinions from friends.  I caught a few of them with their guard down and poured out a few 2-ounce servings.  These were some of the comments I got back:

• “It reminds me of cranberry juice”
• “I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to consume mass quantities of this stuff”
• “It’s yucky!”
• “It’s bold.  A warrior’s drink.”  (This one is from a Star Trek nerd…)

These are comments about pomegranate juice in general.  As you can see, there is little middle-ground with respect to the flavor.  From a cost perspective, what you’ll find is that pomegranate juice in general is more expensive than most other juice products.  A glance at the POM product on local store shelves shows it to be a bit more expensive than the product I’ve been using, which explains why I hadn’t yet made a purchase.

Personally, I find the flavor of pomegranate juice to be too strong for sipping at breakfast.  This, combined with the cost, leads me to the conclusion that the best use is in small quantities to give a little zip to other drinks.  I’ll continue using the juice in my smoothies.