Homemade Grenadine

How does this sound....

1 cup of Lakewood Organic pure Pomegranate juice

1 cup of Wholesome Sweeteners Evaporated cane juice organic sugar

Shake in a bottle to dissolve.

Should I add more sugar or is there anything I'm missing?

My current method...I typically cook the pomegranate juice (starting with 3-4 cups) and sugar (1/2 to 1 cup) down to a syrupy consistency over low heat (no need to boil if you're patient enough*) along with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. Once it cools, I add an ounce of white rum and bottle it. It's always gone before it has a chance to destabilize or go "bad".

kevin

• I find a cocktail already made and in my hand makes me much more patient in the kitchen.

[ Edited by: heylownine 2010-05-17 18:15 ]

Take a nice big slice of lemon peel and give it a twist into your mix. The lemon oil will brighten up the flavor of the Pom and give it that little extra bit of sparkle on the tongue.

You could do the same with Orange peel if you prefer.

On a related note.... if you have a Middle-Eastern/Turkish/Greek market available poke around the shelves and see if you can find Pomegranate Paste/Syrup/Goo(because I can't translate the Arabic any other way). There are many brands and types so look carefully for the bottle that is just concentrated Pom with sugar. You can make a pretty good small-batch Grenadine with about 3 tablespoons, 1/2 cup water and 1/2 ounce light rum (or vodka).

I use Ted Haigh's method: 1 part Sonoma Pomegranate Syrup mixed with 1 part PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur. It won't color your drinks candy red, but it tastes terrific. Not exactly the budget way to go, but I use so little grenadine, it goes a very long way.

if you want a more intense color, get some dried jamaica/hibiscus from a mexican market, make a very strong hibisucus tea with them, then add a little of the tea to the homemade grenadine.

When I did this, I added about 1/2 cup of the dried hibiscus to a small saucepan with 1 cup of boiled water. I turned the flame to low and let it simmer for 2 minutes or so, turned the flame off, put the lid on the pot and let the mixture sit for several hours. Once I was done, I strained out all the red liquid, put it back in the pot with 2 cups of sugar, let the sugar dissolve, then mixed that with a 16 oz bottle of POM. It has a great flavor and a wonderful bright color when added to drinks. Even a teaspoon will make a very intense color.

I read somewhere (Trader Tiki's blog maybe?) about adding hibiscus to the homemade grenadine, and this is the method I used. I don't know if it's the best, but I am very happy with the results.

Next time I might try the suggestion from above and add 1 cup of the PAMA and 1 cup of POM to the tea instead of 2 cups of POM.

[ Edited by: Chinarose 2010-05-18 11:27 ]

I've noted about Hibiscus Grenadine, though Tiare and Chris have done much better jobs.

However, I'll be releasing my own Hibiscus Grenadine to the market very soon! It's available for pre-order, shipping in the next few weeks!

I use a cold process with equal parts POM pomegranate juice and bar sugar. Shake like hell until the sugar is dissolved. I add a splash of Skyy vodka for longer shelf life.

Couldn't be easier and tastes 1000x better than that garish store-bought crap.

I have seen people mention grenadine and pomegranate syrup which sound fairly similar. Is it the consistency? I read something from the Bum where he adds Orange Flower Water. Does anyone know what the original recipe ask for?

[ Edited by: Tonga Tiki 2011-10-12 17:37 ]

I have both tried to reduce pomegranate juice and adding sugar and the recipe where you squeeze fresh pomegranates (easy with my ordinary Mexican elbow juicer) and add the juice to a simple syrup.

The grenadine made from reducing juice was terrible. The color looked like brown sewage. Not nice. Not nice at all! It also had quite a pronounced "cooked" taste.

The grenadine made from freshly squeezed juice was great, although a bit tart. The color was off though, but after I made a batch with a handful of dried hibiscus (found in the health store as a tea) it had a great, blood-red color. Really easy as well.

I added some pomegranate molasses, but I don´t really think it did much for the taste and it colors the grenadine brown.

I'm not sure what the official word is on grenadine vs. pomegranate syrup, but I just heat up pomegranate juice just a bit on the stove and dissolve raw sugar in it 1:1. I then add a smidge of Tito's vodka to help preserve it. Works nicely for me, and doesn't have a "cooked" flavor. I use Langer's pure pom juice.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler has posted a recipe for homemade grenadine:

http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2009/how-to-make-your-own-grenadine/

Tracking down pomegranate molasses and orange flower water (not to mention fresh pomegranates) can be a pain, depending where you live, but the results are worth it. Good flavor and a nice rich red color.

Here´s how i always do it - http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=2821

On 2011-10-18 05:11, Mr. Moto wrote:
Tracking down pomegranate molasses and orange flower water (not to mention fresh pomegranates) can be a pain, depending where you live, but the results are worth it.

Tracking down is the first step, then deciding which one to buy is the next! TEN brands!!! :o

On 2017-10-16 14:09, Tiki Drifter wrote:

Tracking down is the first step, then deciding which one to buy is the next! TEN brands!!! :o

Cortas is my favorite.

For years I made Alton Brown’s pomegranate syrup recipe, but recently tried Martin’s recipe from the Smuggler’s Cove book, and I must say that I prefer it, especially in ease of production. Simmer two cups each pomegranate juice and sugar, then I added 3/4 oz vodka as preservative (ratio based on Robert Hess’ suggestion in his book). It fills an empty 750 ml bottle, tastes great, and has kept well.

Hamo, what you doin up so late?

Later

On 2017-10-16 15:27, Jeff Bannow wrote:

On 2017-10-16 14:09, Tiki Drifter wrote:

Tracking down is the first step, then deciding which one to buy is the next! TEN brands!!! :o

Cortas is my favorite.

AHHA!! The tiki gods were smiling down upon me!

On 2017-10-17 10:12, Tiki Drifter wrote:
AHHA!! The tiki gods were smiling down upon me!

Nice!

Ray's got a recent video testing different grenadine recipes:

Tiki With Ray Episode 79: All About Grenadine
https://youtu.be/4Bepf30Ugf4

I had never bothered to make grenadine, I thought it was just an easy way to add food color to your drink. But recently I poured my Rosie's out and made some using the Pom/hibiscus recipe. WOW!!! What a difference in taste AND color!

On 2019-06-28 07:47, MadDogMike wrote:
...But recently I poured my Rosie's out...

Good man! Rose's grenadine is a crime against cocktails. It's ONLY use, in my book, is neon red kiddie cocktails (Shirley Temple), for kids who might not like actual pomegranate.

Even then there are better, less artificial, choices.

[ Edited by: Sandbartender 2019-06-28 08:13 ]