Grenadine is a pomegranate syrup used in cocktails. The commercially available versions are basically high fructose corn syrup with food coloring, so I decided to make my own.
After doing a bit of online research,[foot]There are numerous articles on making your own grenadine out there.[/foot] I found most recipes fell into one of two approaches: adding sugar to pomegranate juice in a 1:1 ratio[foot]Much like making a simple syrup.[/foot] or reducing pomegranate juice and then adding sugar to taste.
I felt that reducing the pomegranate juice was the most efficient approach, but I didn't like the "add sugar to taste" part. I don't know how sweet grenadine should be. Google returns grenadine's sugar content at 9 grams per tablespoon, so I decided to add enough sugar to match that sugar density. With this approach I knew I would be close to the sweetness in what's readily available and likely used in drink recipes.
Using
R.W. Knudsen Organic Just Pomegranate juice, my recipe looked like this:
Ingredients
- 16oz Pomegranate Juice
- 74g Sugar[foot]This brand of juice is 35g of sugar per 8fl oz. So 16fl oz reduced to 8fl oz is 70g of sugar. 8fl oz is equal to 16Tbsp, so that makes the solution 4.375g of sugar per tablespoon, 4.625g short of the commercial grenadine. An additional 4.625g of sugar for 16Tbsp is 74g of sugar. Adjust these calculations for variation in the sugar content of the pomegranate juice.[/foot]
Directions
- Bring pomegranate juice to a boil in a saucepan and reduce to 8 ounces.
- Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Let cool, store in the refrigerator, and make delicious drinks.
