Semiserious Chefs

Homemade grenadine is delicious and easier to make than you might think. Our son devoured this Shirley Temple shortly after we took this picture.

Despite prevailing wisdom, grenadine is not a cherry-flavored syrup. It never has been. Grenadine is actually made from pomegranate juice and sugar. And it’s surprisingly simple to make at home.

Real grenadine should be a deep magenta color; not some sort of bright neon red or pink shade like you see with many of the store bought brands. Oh, and it most definitely should not have any high fructose corn syrup in it.

Grenadine is a sweet yet subtly tart juice, used in a variety of bar drinks. However, it also has its place in other non-alcoholic or what you’d call “mocktail” drinks such as the “Roy Rogers” and the “Shirley Temple”.

The great thing about making grenadine from scratch is that it’s super easy and it will most likely save you money in the long run. Store bought brands are way overpriced in my opinion.

Typically, equal parts sugar and pomegranate juice are used. If you find that to be too sweet, you can easily lower the amount of sugar you’re using.

Fresh lemon juice and a few drops of orange-flower water round out the syrup. We have to admit, orange-flower water, also called orange-blossom water isn’t the most readily available ingredient on the list, but if you have a store near you that has it in stock, (we purchased ours at Natural Pantry) it’s worth getting.

Once cooled to room temperature, the grenadine can be transferred to a bottle or container that has a sealable lid and stored in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Even though the recipe calls for 4 cups of ingredients, the end result yields 2 cups of grenadine. That should be about 16 oz. of syrup. A typical drink will use between 1/2 – 1 oz. of grenadine.