I love the fact you mentioned the need - and why - for the parchment paper right up front.

In my world, we made jelly out of the pomegranates, if we didn't eat them out of hand - a dear family friend had an orchard full of pomegranate trees and they were a staple, along with the walnuts, plums and apricots, while I was growing up. (Sadly, a lot of those orchards are now houses. Yay, not so much.)

You can also put up pomegranate liquor - juice, vodka and a bit of sugar - bottle and put away for years at a time. After about five, it turns golden in color.