Recipe

From Jeffrey Morgenthaler

• 1 cup POM pomegranate juice
• 1 cup sugar
• Couple drops of orange flower water (optional but highly recommended. You can find this at mediterranean stores, in the international section of some groceries, or Amazon. Skip the Fee Brothers ‘cocktail’-bottled version and go for the Cortas or other Mediterranean brand)
• 1oz pomegranate molasses (optional, generally same availability as orange flower water above)

Heat the juice until it’s warm enough to dissolve the sugar into it. Add the orange flower water and molasses, combine and bottle. Optionally add a teaspoon of vodka to help preservation. In my experience, it’ll last up to several months.

About

Grenadine. Grenadine is probably one of THE most unfairly butchered ingredients in the cocktail world (on par with maraschino cherries, which I’ll save for a future post…). Commonly known as the bright red cherry cough syrup that’s thrown in tequila sunrises and screws up any otherwise potentially decent drink you might have, grenadine deserves a proper re(introduction). Traditional true grenadine is quite simply a fruit syrup made from pomegranates (coming from the French word for pomegranates: ‘grenade’).

The most popular commercial grenadine is the Rose’s brand, and is made from: high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, Red #40, natural and artificial flavors, and Blue #1. …..what? Before I saw the light, I thought that grenadine was just destined to be terrible and ruin drinks, with its only redeeming quality being the bright color pop it can add and the pretty layers it can create as the corn syrup sinks to the bottom of a glass.

But alas, the discovery of a true pomegranate-based homemade recipe has morphed grenadine into one of my favorite ingredients! It’s extremely simple and quick to make and has an amazing flavor I’ll happily throw in my cocktails or virgin drinks! If you have a bottle of Rose’s laying around your house, I’d *highly* advise you try this homemade version immediately and see how you feel.

Check out some cocktail recipes using grenadine here!