So why make grena­dine? Your com­mon run of the mill grena­dine is chock full of arti­fi­cial fla­vors and tastes noth­ing like pome­gran­ate. This sim­ply isn’t going to cut it. When you take the time to hand make a batch of grena­dine it greatly improves the fla­vor pro­file of your cock­tails. A lot of your older, more clas­sic cock­tail recipes call for grena­dine and my mother always told me to respect my elders. So lets pay proper homage to the art of these cock­tails, shall we?

Recipe

• 2 Cups Fresh Pome­gran­ate Juice
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 2 Tea Bags of Hibis­cus Tea

Instruc­tions

Pick up 6 Pome­gran­ates. For the best deal, visit your local Asian gro­cery store (H-mart). If you don’t have an H-mart, Weg­mans will do the trick. I juiced 6 pome­gran­ates with a cit­rus press for approx­i­mately 2 cups of fresh juice. You could go cheap here and buy pome­gran­ate juice, but make sure you adjust your sugar levels.

Next add the 2 cups of juice and 2 cups sugar to a large pot. For a hint of rasp­berry and an added flo­ral fla­vor, I steeped two bags of hibis­cus tea in my batch for 10 min­utes. If I could’ve found dried hibis­cus flow­ers it would have been bet­ter, adding a won­der­ful flo­ral note and red color.

This is where you can get a lit­tle cre­ative with your recipe. Instead of the hibis­cus tea or dried flow­ers, some­times I pick up orange flower water at an Indian gro­cery store. You’ll also be able to find pome­gran­ate syrup there, which is an accept­able grena­dine sub­sti­tute in a pinch.

After cook­ing the grena­dine for 15 min­utes, allow it to cool and bot­tle it up. You can also add a shot of vodka to help it pre­serve for a month.

Cock­tails

I made this grena­dine for The Sep­tem­ber 2010 Liba­tion Lounge. Here are the cock­tails that fea­tured my house made grenadine:

Clover Leaf

• 2oz Gin
• 3/4oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2oz House Made Grenadine
• Egg White
• Mint leaves

Floridita

• 2oz Rum
• 1/2oz Lime Juice
• 1/2oz Sweet Vermouth
• 1/8oz White Crème De Cacao,
• 1/8oz House Made Grenadine

Mon­key Gland

• 1 1/2oz Gin
• 1 1/2oz Fresh OJ
• 1/4oz House Made Grenadine,
• 1/8oz Herb­saint