Grenadine is a vibrant syrup that elevates every cocktail it touches. Once you make your own, you'll never go back.
Grenadine is that bright red, super sweet syrup that helps put the sun n a Tequila Sunrise and makes a Shirley Temple blush. It also occasionally puts the cherry in cherry cokes, but actually, grenadine is traditionally made from pomegranates ("grenadine" is French for pomegranate) and has a lot more going for it when you make your own.
Has ever a cocktail ingredient been so widely known, yet so misunderstood? In years past, grenadine was known almost exclusively as a neon-red syrup that starred in Shirley Temples. But in its true form, grenadine is simply a sweet-tart reduced pomegranate syrup, no artificial coloring necessary, that stars in a number of classic cocktails.
Grenadine has been a mystery to us for a long time. As self-professed Shirley Temple maniacs in our youths, we were well-acquainted with the bright red hue and sugary taste. But grenadine wasn't always a crimson concoction of chemicals before production cost introduced high fructose corn syrup to the game, the real thing used to be made from pomegranates. That's right, genuine grenadine comes from fruit!
Virtually all cocktails, from the booziest on down, have some form of sweetener. (Even a martini; dry vermouth does have a touch of sweetness to it.) The intention isn’t necessarily to make the cocktail sweet, in itself; sugar does plenty of other things to a drink, such as can bind other ingredients together to make a cocktail taste seamless rather than rough around the edges. It also contributes body and texture, think of how sweeteners like honey and maple syrup have a real weight to them.
Ingredients:
1 cup of pomegranate juice
1 cup of sugar
1 cutie tangerine peel
Directions:
Combine the sugar and juice. In a sauce pan or skillet, combine the sugar and juice. Place over medium heat on the stovetop. Stir to help the sugar dissolve.
Bring to a boil. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and cook for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Cool and add cutie tangerine zest. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.
Bottle. Place a funnel in a clean bottle in the refrigerator for up to one month.
Watch to see how easy it is to make grenadine!
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