Pomegranate Paste/Grenadine?

I felt like Don the Beachcomber today, as I browsed through a well stocked asian market looking for drink flavorings. I did see many tropical fruits packed in syrup that could be interesting to experiment with (lychee, soursop, longan,and rambutan). The most interesting find of the day was the Pomagranite Paste "looks like a thick syrup". I wanted to run this by the TC crowd to see if anyone has tried it. If it has been tried, how does it compare to grenadine? I found a link for the product that I saw, please see below. Any input would be appreciated.

http://www.sadaf.com/store/product328.html

Added Bonus Recipe:
Grenadine syrup for use in a bar is usually bought on bottles, but you can also make your own:
Use 4 pomegranates to make about 2 cups of pomegranate syrup. After removing seeds, process with food processor knife blade. Simmer pulp with 1/4 cup honey over low heat 3 minutes. Stir well. Strain to remove seeds.

the difference may be honey.

Cheers,

KT

[ Edited by: Kreaky Tiki on 2003-09-07 17:05 ]

[ Edited by: Kreaky Tiki on 2003-09-08 22:09 ]

I just located this at my local market (living in SF Valley has many advantages - all of the Middle Eastern/Eastern European folks for starters)...

It's quite inexpensive ($3.69). It's completely unsweetened and has no additives (like the rest of Sadaf's product line), so it only has whatever natural sweeteners a pomegranate possesses.

It's been too long since I've had real Grenadine syrup - I remember it from the mid-1970s when I had "Shirley Temples", but that was mixed with ginger ale, and I can't be sure the grenadine wasn't fake already by then.

But I tried 2tsps of it with 2 tsps of my homemade Simple Syrup with 11oz of San Pellegrino sparkling water, and it was pretty tasty. You had a solid taste of the pomegranate, with a bit of its natural bitterness still. Maybe I needed more sweetener.

I LIKE the flavour of it - it's definitely a strong pomegranate flavour, but this doesn't speak to how close it is to the "real" grenadine.

I'd need to get a bottle of genuine grenadine that people can confirm "tastes the way it should" for mixing purposes.

I'd hazard a guess that 1 part Sadaf pomegranate "paste" (it's really a syrup) to 2 parts simple syrup would probably right on target. The great thing is you can dial-in the amount of sweetening power for your application rather easily. (I'm really enjoying the concept of this Simple Syrup).

If Beachbum or other experienced barhands can confirm what "real grenadine" tastes like... should it have all of the pomegranate's flavour profiles intact? (Sour with some bitter and sweet), or is it more of a "sweetener" in drinks?

=Kukoae=

Since grenadine as a sweet syrup has been used in cocktails for so long I would say that the paste you found would have to be sweetened quite a lot to be an equal substitute.

Making your own grenadine is easy. There are many recipes online.

I'm lazy and I want to support Trader Vic's so I just buy grenadine from them.

Fee Brothers American Beauty Grenadine is another True Pomegranite Grenadine - http://www.feebrothers.com/Page.asp?Script=2 - (and is more easily available in some parts of the world). Also check out http://www.pomwonderful.com/. This stuff is available in grocery stores in South Carolina so it must be easy to get in San Fran. You can find a recipe for using it to make your own Grenadine at http://www.recipegoldmine.com/bevbar/bevbar5.html (simply ignore all the stuff about processing and draining the seeds). You can, of course, just buy fresh pomegranites and spend two or three days squeezing a cup of juice out of about 30 of them if you're dead set on starting from scratch.

Has anyone tried Monin Pomegranate? $10 a bottle online and at Hi-Times.

http://www.monin.com/us/en/syrup_pomegranate.php

TikiSan, I bought the Monin pomegranate bottle from the World Market here in SV Valley about $6.00. It is too sugary and extra bland in flavor. However I was experimenting making pomegranate martinis at the time, and it didn't have the kick I was looking for.. I like the pomegranate paste from the Middle Eastern stores also, and I make Monkeyman's Monkey pod with it.

Another one to keep an eye out for in your local Asian grocery is a "passion fruit drink concentrate" from Taiwan which is actually a very decent passionfruit syrup made with sugar and real passion fruit juice. The brand name was in Chinese characters, but it comes in a rectangular bottle with a red cap, and has a picture of a wineglass full of yellow "passion fruit drink" on the front. Sometimes it's also wrapped in plastic.

I'll see if I can manage a picture.

*Edit: Heh, mixed up my fruits there for a second. :)

[ Edited by: mbanu 2006-10-06 09:10 ]