Real Grenadine
Yields: About 2 cups | Actual pomegranate, not red food coloring
Ingredients
- 2 cups 100% Pomegranate Juice (POM or fresh-pressed — no cocktail blend)
- 1½ cups White Sugar
- 1–2 tsp Orange Flower Water or a strip of orange zest steeped while cooling
- 1 oz Vodka (optional preservative)
- Pinch Salt
Instructions
- Reduce lightly: In a saucepan, warm the pomegranate juice over medium heat. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Simmer gently 8–12 minutes until slightly thickened — you want syrup, not jam. Do not boil hard or you will cook off the fresh fruit character.
- Cool: Kill the heat. Stir in orange flower water (or drop in a strip of zest for 15–20 minutes, then remove). Add salt and vodka if using.
- Bottle: Cool completely, funnel into a clean bottle, refrigerate.
Use it: Tequila Sunrise, Jack Rose, Shirley Temple that adults will steal, or a bar spoon in a whiskey sour. Keeps 2–3 weeks in the fridge (longer with vodka). Color will be deep ruby — if it looks like neon cherry, you bought the wrong juice.