Making My Own Grenadine
- Oct 21, 2021
- 3 min read
I didn't know this was even a possibility, the novel idea had not even crossed my mind. I love being able to make things from "scratch" so when my friend told me she had a friend who makes their own grenadine I thought well if he can do it so can I.
So many of these recipes call for this mixer and I've found myself irritated when I find something that sounds good for the night then realize my only missing ingredient is grenadine... -_- well the irritation will be no more!
INTRODUCTION
I found sooo many different recipes and variations especially with sugar to pomegranate juice ratio but here's what I ended up doing:
2 cups 100% pomegranate juice
2/3 cup sugar (plus like 1/3 cup that I scooped in later)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 shot of vodka (this one's for me not for the recipe, just kidding it helps with shelf life)
1 jar or container for storage
PROCEDURE
Get out a cute little pot, pour the pomegranate juice into the pot along with the sugar. Get yourself a spoon or whisk, turn that heat up to medium-high depending on your patience level, stir that badboy until the sugar is dissolved and your solution comes to a boil. Cover your little pot with a lid, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the pot from the hot surface and let it cool down (with or without the lid idc). Once the solution has cooled, add the juice of one lemon and the shot of vodka. Stir once more then grab your container. Pour the contents into the container and store in the fridge (I put one in the fridge and kept one out because I'm experimenting). From what I've read, this recipe is good for 3 weeks in the fridge, with the vodka its good for up to 3 months (?) I can't really confirm any of this information since I've not tested it myself but that's what the masses are saying.
RESULTS
Ok so I didn't try the grenadine yet. I also tend to overdo what recipes call for, for example recipe says 2 cloves of garlic, I'm putting in 6, recipes says 1 tsp of spice, I'm putting in nearly a 1/4 cup. So I think upon reading back over the recipes I used for reference I may have overdone the lemon and vodka but I personally like both of those things so I don't see how that could be a bad thing. I also don't like super sweet syrups so I tried to stick on the lower side of sugar addition. My next post will be a recipe that calls for grenadine so I can finally try this out. I do feel I have so much more freedom now to choose whatever I like from the book. Too bad I can't make brandy or the other obscure ingredients but I definitely had fun doing this.
DISCUSSION I also apparently forgot to do an after picture with the containers filled up... to my defense I was on the phone with my mom and extremely distracted just having a good conversation so you know sometimes it's about the journey not the final product!
I had to look up a little back ground on what grenadine actually is. I also realize that I've been sort of adding a little tid bit on the history or background of the recipe and usually in lab reports this section comes first or in the introduction section but I hate when recipes posts include a novel before the actually recipe so I'm just going to keep my history/background in the discussion because to me this is the optional read section for those that want a little bit more.
Moving on, I found that:
"Grenadine/ˈɡrɛnədiːn/ is a commonly used, non-alcoholic bar syrup, characterized by a flavour that is both tart and sweet, and by a deep red color. It is popular as an ingredient in cocktails, both for its flavor and to give a reddish or pink tint to mixed drinks and is traditionally made from pomegranate. The name "grenadine" originates from the French word grenade which means pomegranate, from Latin grānātum "seeded". Grenadine was originally prepared from pomegranate juice, sugar, and water."
The ingredients in Rose's Grenadine are high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, FD&C Red#40, natural (sureeee) and artificial flavors, and FD&C Blue#1. I'm happy to be able to make my own al natural version.
Here are my references for recipes in case you want to see something a bit more structured:
I just found this blog called Alcademics: The Study of Booze by Camper English, awesome content, here's a link about their history of Grenadine:
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