Homemade Grenadine Syrup

Homemade grenadine is so superior to store-bought that you will never even be able to look at a bottle of the mass-produced stuff again. Bonus, it’s really easy to make! Recipe below.

Homemade grenadine syrup

If you were ever a child — and likely you were — the only experience you’ve had with grenadine involves a childhood drink called the Shirley Temple. And those were delicious, right? I remember family nights out at China Hill (our local Chinese restaurant) and my sister and I going ga-ga for Shirley Temples before our Poo-Poo Platter arrived.*

*As an adult I am fully aware that neither of these items are actually Chinese.

Shirley Temples were delicious though. A tall sugar-bomb of a drink. Ginger ale mixed with grenadine syrup and topped with a bright red maraschino cherry. The kind of joyous gift that restaurants used to give to children everywhere and charge parents way too much money for.

But what is the flavor of that grenadine syrup supposed to be? I can’t tell you from memory. I just know it’s red.

Pro-tip: it’s pomegranate.

Wait, wait, wait… grenadine syrup is pomegranate?

I know, I just blew your mind.

And you probably have so many questions. I know I did! Why is there a cherry floating in a Shirley Temple if the drink is supposed to be made from pomegranate? Why is grenadine syrup bright red and not some lovely natural puple-ish hue? How did that drink get the name Shirley Temple anyway? And… pomegranate? Really?

Pom-e-gran-ate?

If the flavor was supposed to be pomegranate shouldn’t it actually taste like, you know, pomegranate? And it if did taste like pomegranate might it even taste good? Like, really good?

Yes. I promise you, it would. And it does!

Ingredients needed for homemade grenadine

I’m going to be totally honest with you: this recipe will require a trip to the grocery store. Unless you regularly stock rose water, pomegranate molasses, and even pomegranate juice you will likely need to make a special trip (you can also just add the ingredients onto an already-planned trip!). But none of these ingredients will be difficult to find, with the possible exception of pomegranate molasses, but you can make your own pomegranate molasses with the pomegranate juice you’re about to buy anyway.

To make homemade grenadine syrup you will need

• Pomegranate juice: Just buy it. Yes, you could make this yourself. Imagine the immense feeling of satisfaction you will receive after you painstakingly remove all the seeds from several pomegranates and then procede to juice each and every itty-bitty seed by squeezing the juice from every… single… tiny… pomegranate… seed. Again, you could do this, but I won’t be. I’ll just be buying a bottle of POM (or similar) during my next shopping trip.
• Pomegranate molasses: Ok, this one you can make (give me a week and I’ll show you how here). And if you buy a big bottle of POM you will have the juice to do it. It’s not hard, and it will double as a delicious condiment for salads and meats (hello pork chops on the grill drizzled with your own homemade pomegranate molasses). But if you want to save yourself the hassle of making it a store-bought version will be just fine, too.
• Rose-water: This is my non-traditional ingredient, but I promise you it is delicious. A traditional ingredient would be orange blossom water. And if you have that, or just prefer to be totally traditional, then you can sub it in — maybe a teaspoon or two as the flavor is less intense than Rose Water. But rose water is far easier to find in the States, and it’s delicious, so I’ve used it here.
• Sugar: Superfine, or caster sugar, if you can find it. But only because the granules are smaller so they will dissolve more readily. If you only have regular sugar don’t fret, it just might take a little longer for this very hands-off recipe to finish itself, but science will eventually win out and the sugar will dissolve either way.
• Optional – vodka or gin: No, it’s not for cocktail making (although you could). It’s just used as a preservative, and it’s totally optional. In fact, if you are making this for little ones I highly recommend leaving the alcohol out!!! The syrup will keep for several weeks in the fridge on its own (sugar is a natural preservative, as is a cool environment) but the addition of a little alcohol will prolong the shelf life of your homemade grenadine syrup even more.

How to make homemade grenadine

Here comes the easy part, you don’t even cook this stuff. You could cook it, if you wanted to. That would speed things along. But be aware that as soon as your homemade grenadine syrup starts to heat up you’ll be killing some of the lovely flavor compounds in your pomegranate juice. And at that point you might as well buy a bottle of the artificially-died red-stuff.

I prefer — and will be showing you — the “give it some time” method. This requires zero kitchen skills or attention and only requires you to place a jar filled with ingredients in the fridge for 10 or 20 minutes, and give it the occasional shake. Homemade grenadine done.

Other drinks you might be interested in

If you’re looking for other syrups that you can (easily!) make at home you might be interested in these authentic Hungarian syrups that kids will go crazy for.

• Hungarian Eper Szorp (Hungarian Strawberry Soda)
• Reduced-Sugar Eper Szörp (Hungarian Strawberry Soda)

If you’re looking for more cocktail inspiration you might enjoy one of these other drinks I’ve posted!

• Blueberry Lavender Smash Cocktail
• Watermelon Gin Punch
• Homemade Tonic Water
• The Skylark Cocktail

Tag me Instagram @jamandbreadofficial (I love seeing when other people make something I’ve made) and please consider leaving me a review below if you make my Homemade Grenadine Syrup. As a young food blogger, these things really help me out.

For even more recipe ideas you can follow me on Pinterest!

Enjoy! 

---

Print