Kristen of Bakesweet contacted me wondering if I had a recipe for a cupcake with grenadine. I did not, but immediately got excited about the concept of making one. In preparation, I did a bit of research about grenadine.
According to the Wikipedia article on grenadine:
"The name 'grenadine' comes from the French word grenade meaning pomegranate, as grenadine was originally prepared from pomegranate juice and sugar. However, grenadine is also a common name mistakenly applied to syrups and beverages consisting of other fruit juices (e.g. raspberry, redcurrant, blackberry) and sugar syrup. The characteristic flavor can be obtained from a mixture of blackcurrant juice and other fruit juices with the blackcurrant flavor dominating.
The food industry, however, has widely replaced grenadine fruit bases with artificial ingredients. The Mott's brand 'Rose's', by far the most common grenadine brand in the United States, is now formulated entirely out of a high-fructose corn syrup, water, and citric acid base, sharing nearly the same formulation as orange drink."
I looked in my pantry and found that the grenadine we had was, in fact, the Rose's high fructose corn syrup variety. About a year ago, we committed genocide against any food or beverage in our home that contained high fructose corn syrup. I was shocked to discover that there was a sole survivor. It had to be annihilated.
How was I to make my grenadine cupcakes without using this high fructose corn syrup impostor?
Thanks to Cocktail Chronicles, I learned that it is easy to make your own grenadine.
How to Make Grenadine
1. Buy a bottle of pomegranate juice. This is becoming more popular and should be easy to find. POM is a popular but very expensive brand. I was able to find some 100% organic pomegranate juice for much cheaper.
2. Bring 4 cups of pomegranate juice (the whole 32oz bottle) to a boil.
3. Lower heat and simmer until it reduces in half. You can let it reduce more that half if you want it to be a bit thicker. This process took about 15 minutes.
4. Add 2 cups of sugar and let it dissolve.
5. Chill.
It won't be quite as red as Rose's so you can add food coloring if you'd like. It will taste a million times better.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
How to Make Grenadine and Why You Should Bother
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13 comments:
OMG!!!! This is way too easy! I never even considered making my own grenadine. I mean I don't really use it all that much but when I do I usually use Rosie's. After hearing what Wiki had to say about that brand I'll hesitate before I grab it again.
Thanks for the neat and easy way to make our own!
P.S.
(You are on my blogroll if you want to check me out: http://tablebread.blogspot.com )
Didn't know this was so easy----COOL! I'll be making some for this weekend's cocktails!
Sounds delish! And so when am I getting to sample some of these fine wares?
Great recipe! Who knew grenadine could be easily made at home?
Thanks for the recipe!! I can't wait to see the cupcake results of this! I love pommegranate.
does it say how long it would keep? can you keep it in the fridge like you would do a bottle of rose's? Could you freeze it?
Lewis - I was so surprised too! Thanks for adding me to your blog roll. I did the same.
Clumsy - Excellent! Hope it works out for you.
Tojosan - I'll have to bring you some at the next blog event.
Gigi - I certainly didn't!
Yenni - It's coming soon!
Plays - Apparently if you add a bit of vodka to it it will keep just fine.
I want to make some too. Is the pomegranate flavor really noticeable? I would worry that it might end up just tasting sugary. Do you think the grenadine they used to serve in Shirley Temples was the real stuff about thirty years ago?
Very interesting!
Angelina - Actually, my husband doesn't even like pomegranate juice and he liked the grenadine. It's sweet but not sickeningly sweet. Not sure how long the fake variety has been used.
Michael and I are going to make the grenadine this weekend - we are having a Mardis Gras Party next weekend and thought it would be fun!
What a great idea! Like you, we've tried to cut back on corn syrup products but I had no idea that Rose's had so much corn syrup--in fact, I never thought to look at any of my liquor cabinet supplies. I definitely want to try this, but do you have any idea what the shelf life of the homemade grenadine is (refrigerated, of course)?
--harlie
I'm making my own batch tonight. I too cut all the HFCS out of the pantry.
So, thanks for sharing!
Harlie - My guess is that it would last about as long as any juice in the fridge. We drank it pretty quickly. I bought some sparking water and mixed it with the grenadine to make a pomegranate soda. It was yummy.
However, according to Cocktail Chronicles..
"Add an ounce of high-proof vodka or grain alcohol as a preservative. You can also store this in a plastic container in the freezer; the high volume of sugar keeps it from freezing, and you can just tip out a little frigid syrup each time you need it."
http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2006/05/21/grenadine-face-off/
Prissy - Cool! Hope you like it!
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