How to make pomegranate juice, in French: Test your comprehension

Fancy seeing what I discovered to do with my pomegranates in the garden this year? 

Hint: Anyone can do it and it’s really worth it! 

The goal of this fun mini-lesson is not only to share with you a healthy recipe but also to expose you to a lot of new French words.

You’ll be exploring the following:

• What to do with your pomegranates (all in French)

• Loads of vocabulary to help you learn French

• How you can speak more French and say what you want to say more easily.

Pomegranates preparation: a fastidious but worthy step.

It’s currently the pomegranate season and I thought it would a great idea to expand your vocabulary and share my own recipe at the same time.

The first step is a more tedious one because it’s very meticulous and requires quite a deal of time. However, bear in mind that the end result is way beyond expectations!

Before diving into our pomegranate juice, your first essential word is this one:

• une grenade >>> a pomegranate.

Note in French we use the same word for the fruit and the deadly weapon! After all, a grenade looks like an oval pomegranate, well, kind of.

Let’s go back to our recipe. Here are the steps for the preparation:

• En premier, ouvre la grenade et enlève les graines >>> First, open up the pomegranate and take out the seeds.
• C’est un travail fastidieux et c’est ce qui prend le plus temps >>> It’s a tedious process and it’s what takes the longest time.
• Enlève la moelle.>>> Take out the pith.
• Tout ça vaut vraiment la peine. >>> It’s all really worth it.

In this first paragraph, the essential words are “graines” (seeds) and “moelle” (“mwall” for the pronunciation meaning, pith).

In French you have first the object of “worth” then the verb “valoir” and “la peine” (literally the pain / suffering).

Let's have a look at some examples:

• (singular) Étudier le français vaut la peine >>> Studying French is worth it.  (Singular form)
• (plural) Les fautes valent la peine >>> Mistakes are worth it.  (Plural form)

Rinse the pomegranate seeds.

We have just seen the kind of work it requires. This is why you should be very proud of yourself. The good news is that the hardest part is now over. (I sat at the table with a friend and enjoyed a nice conversation whilst I was working).

• Lorsque tu auras fini de sortir les graines, tu peux les regarder avec une satisfaction totale. >>> When you’ve finished taking out the seeds, you can look at them with complete satisfaction.
• Un bol comme ça prend à peu près une heure. >>> A bowl like this takes about an hour.

Do you have the right tools?

There are multiple options, from the electric device to the manual one.

Here are more technical French words for you:

• Si vous avez un pressoir à jus, tant mieux. >>> If you have a press juice, all the better.
• Sinon utilise un pilon et un mortier… >>> If not, just use a pestle and a mortar
• ou bien un mixeur et une passoire fine….>>> a liquidiser and a fine strainer….
• ou un presse-agrumes manuel. >>> or a hand press. 

The final step: your pomegranate juice. 

What’s the result? Your gorgeous healthy juice. Next:

• Verse le jus dans une bouteille. >>> Pour the juice into a bottle.

As a reminder, for the imperative, there are only 3 options with the pronouns “tu” (familiar you), “nous” (we) and “vous” (formal you). 

Another thing to remember: with regular ER verbs, you drop the “s” at the end of your verb (just like in our example below).

Let’s take our reference verb as an example:

• (Tu) Verse le jus dans une bouteille.   Pour . . .
• (Nous) Versons le jus dans une bouteille.  Let's pour . . .
• (Vous) Versez le jus dans une bouteille. Pour . . .

Raw pomegranate juice or a cocktail?

At this stage of the recipe, you can even improve it. How? By adding another juice.

The French word “jus” has the same spelling regardless if it’s singular or plural and you will never pronounce the final letter.

• Le jus de grenade est amer: ce n’est pas très sucré. >>> The pomegranate juice is bitter: it’s not very sweet.
• C’est possible, donc, d’y ajouter un autre jus. Pourquoi pas du jus de raisin noir, ou du jus d’orange ? >>> It’s, therefore, possible to add another juice. Why not add some black grape juice or some orange juice?

What to do with a lot of fruit (in excess).

You are not sure what to do when you have a lot of fresh fruits? One way is to transform them into some delicious juice.

The French word “raisins”, unlike in English, means fresh grapes. And if they are dried, you would add the adjective “secs” (dry): Les raisins secs (raisins).

• Quand les raisins sont de saison et abondants, fais-en du jus et garde-le dans le congélateur. >>> When the grapes are in season and plentiful, make some juice and keep it in the freezer.

Have your juice bottles ready!

Let’s imagine you possess different bottles of juice thanks to this tip. Now, you can create your own cocktail with them.

• Ne mélange les jus qu'à la dernière minute. >>> Don’t mix the juices until the last minute.
• Tu peux, ainsi, toujours choisir quels jus tu veux. >>> That way, you can always choose which juices you want.

When to enjoy your natural homemade food.

What’s the point of doing all of this? To spend a great time consuming it. The English word “enjoy” can be translated by “régaler” or “savourer”.

In this context, you can picture the person enjoying each bite or each drop!

• Régale-toi au petit-dejeuner. >>> Enjoy your breakfast.

The benefits of healthy homemade food.

In conclusion, there’s nothing more healthy to consume your own food from fresh ingredients. And even if the word can be tedious, it can be easily balanced with the end result. Once you know how to do it and with the right tools, it will become a habit.

• Faire ses aliments à la maison n’est pas difficile. >>> Making your own food at home isn’t hard.
• Ça prend un peu de temps parfois, mais c’est plus naturel et on profite des vitamines toutes fraiches.>>> It takes a bit of time at times, but it’s more natural and you get to benefit from fresh vitamins.

So, did you learn something new? New French words? Don’t you agree that these sentences depict real situations with the exact French words you would need?

Let me know if you are interested in more mini-lessons like this one - I take my inspiration form m y people in  Conversation Café - and the m ini-lessons help them learn too. You can also ask for mini-lessons . . . Just let me know.