Homemade Grenadine

More About This Recipe

• You know how children can sometimes eat or drink things that make adults wretch? Well, I have a story for you. When I was a kid, I used to have grenadine drinking competitions with some of my friends. And it wasn’t a competition to see how much you could drink. It was a competition to see how fast you could drink an entire bottle. How I didn’t go into immediate cardiac arrest from sugar overload is a mystery to me. As with most things though, these choices have come back to haunt me and now I have a very hard time even looking at a grenadine bottle, let alone adding it to my drink! That was, of course, until I made my own. You see, real homemade grenadine has just enough sugar in it to counteract the real flavor components: pomegranate and hibiscus. There are only three ingredients in this syrup and it only takes about 30 minutes to make start-to-finish. You’ll never go back to the bottled stuff once you try it out! You can find dried hibiscus flowers in a ton of places these days, but they might not be in the normal grocery store. Check health food stores and ask around or you can always order some off of Amazon. The only other note about the ingredients is when you are looking for pomegranate juice, be sure to check the ingredients. You want one that is just pure juice. It shouldn’t have any added sugar or anything. You can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 or 4 weeks without a problem. I just use a mason jar to store mine. I’ve made this syrup a few times over the years and I’ve never had it sit in my fridge nearly that long. Mine is always gone within the week. It’s great in a ton of drinks. If you want something non-alcoholic, try a dash of it with some club soda. Personally, I find it very refreshing to add a dash of it to a gin and tonic! I call it the Gin and Gren. The next time you’re having people over, make a batch of this and people will think you’re the best mixologist in the world!