Storage – How Should Pomegranates Be Stored?

It rather depends on the temperature of the room. Where I live, in the summer it gets hot and humid, and they shouldn't be out on the counter during the day, or they ferment. In winter (like spring in the northern US, 45-70 farenheit) they can be out for two days with no problem.

My recommendation would be to soak overnight for morning use, or to soak during the day for evening use. It also helps to change the water every few hours, though this isn't critical. If you refrigerate them with the water, you get an extra half-day. Refrigerating drained gets another day or so.

Either way, they should always be shaded, never in direct sunlight.

If they do spoil, you'll know, as they'll have a sour/yeasty smell to them.

It should be stored in a cool-dark place. Your cupboard is just fine.

You're overlooking an important distinction in the Cook's Illustrated snippet: their oil is used. Used oil is already damaged by the high temperatures required for frying, this greatly shortens its shelf life and makes it much more prone to rancidity. Storage of used cooking oil is covered in other questions here:

• Frying oil reuse
• How to keep deep frying oil usable?

For peanut oil specifically, the shelf life is two years if unopened and one year if opened.

I have a nearly empty 10-14 month old bottle of peanut oil in my cupboard right now. I used it last night, and it showed no signs of rancidity.