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.
37 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!
Do you have any posts about your "genocide" on HFCS?
PD_THOR - Nope. That would be a fun post though!
Hi Stef - Lovely and delicious blog. I was intrigued by the homemade grenadine idea, something I'd never considered doing. Wonderful! I'll bet it makes a killer Shirley Temple. Thanks for the great idea.
For a great drink, actually using the grenadine:
1 part vodka
1 part coconut rum
1 part pineapple juice
Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass.
Add a dash of grenadine to create a very tasty, very pretty two layer drink (the grenadine will sink to the bottom of the martini glass).
Can I use Black Cherry Concentrate juice for the Grenadine?
Thanks
I'm sure you could use black cherry and it would taste yummy, I'm just not sure that I would call it grenadine.
ya rock. thanks for the inspiration. I now proudly possess my very own bottle of homemade grenadine!
thanks!!
made this last night. it's incredibly good. thanks for sharing
coming from a family that goes through a lot of grenadine (we're big on manhattans), you've really got me pumped with this one. thanks!
I have a couple of pomegranate trees in my yard and though I've been making fresh juice but never thought I could take it a step further! Can't wait to try this.
So simple!
What is the deal with HF Corn Syrup though? It is just fine as long as you use it just like any other sugar product -- IN MODERATION. Start sucking down too much of any sugar and you are not doing good things for your body.
I'd rather drink a whole bottle of HFCS than start putting chemical coloring into my body!
Regular corn syrup is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. HFCS is 40% glucose and 60% HFCS, so don't lose any sleep over that BS you're hearing on TV about how bad it is... fructose is just sweeter tasting than glucose, but they both are part of what we call DELICIOUS SUGAR.
"fructose is just sweeter tasting than glucose, but they both are part of what we call DELICIOUS SUGAR."
Looks like the propaganda arm of the corn industry has paid a visit. The FACT is, fructose is metabolized differently than glucose or sucrose, leading to a rise in triglycerides, fat, and atherosclerosis. YOU may call it sugar, but those of us who know and care call it toxic.
Speaking of toxic, standard grenadine also contains a large dose of RED40. This stuff is AWFUL and is reason enough to make your own.
I have been making this recently using POM and organic apple juice from COSTCO, at fraction of the cost of the regular stores... the apple adds enough sweetness to go without adding more heavily purified and processed beet crystals (white sugar). I use a 2:1 pom to apple, and reduce about 3:1. It is amazing, and used for tea, flavoring Greek yogurt etc, smoothies... endless possibilities.
Bradd - That sounds incredible.
I just finished making the homemade grenadine, after being directed to your blog because I wanted to learn to make clotted cream (it's in the oven baking now!) Oh my goodness, this is SO GOOD! I also feel a fair amount of similarity with you. 1. I volunteered to make cupcakes for my friend's wedding two years ago (they turned out perfect, btw!). 2. My dad's whole family is from Kirkwood, Mo. 3. My name is Stef! Thanks for the blog! You rock!
Stefani - That's crazy! You even spell your name the same way that I do! We should meet up sometime if you ever visit St. Louis!
Stef, turns out I'm going to be in St. Louis May 16-18th visiting my grandmother. I was there last year for the Society for American Archaeology meetings and St. L has really rejuvenated! Love it! Seems pretty swanky now, there must be a cupcake shop somewhere we could meet. :)
Stefani - Drop me an email stef@cupcakeproject.com and we'll make a plan.
There's absolutely no difference in eating HFCS or table sugar.
Table sugar is 100% Sucrose. Sucrose is a sugar molecule that is disaccharide comprised of Glucose and Fructose. So that's 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose.
HFCS is 60:40 Fructose to Glucose. Fructose, a pentose, is metabolized in much the same way as Glucose, a hexose. Unless you are eating nothing but corn syrup all day long, you're not going to see any difference in your health.
And for the person who said that eating more Fructose leads to an increase in Triacylglycerides (TAG's), Fat, and Atherosclerosis you do not really know what you are talking about.
Fat, or lipids, come from fatty acids. These are long carbon chains that contain a carboxylic acid group. They can be unsaturated (have carbon-carbon double bonds) or saturated (all carbon-carbon single bonds). Triacylglycerides are used by the body to store fat. They are a combination of a molecule of Glycerol with three fatty acids.
I feel a bit late to the party, but to the anon bashing on fructose:
You do realize that fructose is the main source of carbohydrates in fruit, right? Please don't tell me you think fruit is deadly toxic. Also, sucrose is a disaccharide composed of a fructose and a glucose molecule; sucrose is metabolized by separating those two molecules and metabolizing them individually. Either way, fructose is metabolized in almost exactly the same way glucose is; they're isomers and only one enzyme away from being the same thing. Go back to biology 101 and study up your glycolysis.
The list of studies that show HFCS to cause increased weight gain over other forms of sweeteners is much to long to put into this post. One of the better, and more recent ones, was conducted at Princeton University[1], and found that rats that were fed HFCS gained fat 300% more quickly than those fed an equal (or slightly larger) dose of fruit-derived sugar.
2. Increased Risk of Developing Type-2 Diabetes
Over the years, consumption of high-fructose corn syrup can lead to a huge increase in the likelihood of developing diabetes.[2] The worst part about it is how easily this life-long condition can be avoided in most cases. Excessive amounts of soda, energy drinks and junk-food simply aren’t worth losing a foot or going blind or harming your children.
3. Hypertension and Elevated “Bad” Cholesterol Levels
High-fructose doesn’t just make your body fat. It makes your heart fat too. There is a strong link between the irresponsible consumption of high fructose corn syrup and elevated triglyceride and HDL (bad cholesterol) levels.[3] Together these can cause arterial plague build-up and eventually lead to dangerous heart conditions including hypertension, heart disease, and even stroke.
4. High Fructose Corn Syrup & Long-Term Liver Damage
This is a big one that a lot people overlook. Like anything else you eat or drink, HFCS is processed by your liver, gallbladder and kidneys. And it’s especially destructive to your liver. When combined with a sedentary lifestyle, permanent liver scarring can occur.[4] This greatly diminishes the organ’s ability to process out toxins and, over time, can lead to an expansive range of other negative health concerns. Another study suggests that HFCS may also cause fatty liver.[5]
5. Mercury Exposure from HFCS
Even if you were already aware of previously mentioned risks associated with corn syrup, there’s a good chance that you didn’t know it also often loaded with alarmingly high levels of mercury. In a study conducted just last year they found mercury in over 50 percent of the samples tested.[6] Mercury exposure can result in irreversible brain and nervous system damage – especially in young, growing bodies. This is especially worrisome with the abundance of HFCS in children-target foodstuffs.
To Anonymous:I am a proven case against HFCS. When I removed it from our diet completely, I had 25 lbs just melt off while doing nothing to lose weight other than stop drinking soda. Another 5 came off later & slower. My cholesterol which was high but not terrible shot down to just above normal (it runs in family). A severe & chronic GI disorder has so far stopped completely & I feel better in general. My weight now is in the normal-light range. I can take hikes & ride my bike without feeling like I was going to pass out. How many of us are out there that respond to HFSC like this? I am guessing many & they don't even realize what's doing it. It makes you artificially FAT!
Do not believe the lies that HFCS is exactly like sugar. I still use sugar, I still drink soda with sugar & have not gained 1 ounce of weight unlike the 25-30 lbs HFCS put on me. It is not the same at all-it must be the processing that changes things. Good idea that has gone bad-move on. This isn't working for anyone but the producers.
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