It is pomegranate season again and when I saw some lovely pomegranates a few weeks ago at the farmers’ market, I couldn’t resist buying some. Actually when I bought them, I just bought them to eat them as a fruit or to use them in salads. However, it was the period when I was still working on the book and my husband was cooking most of the time, so I did not have any time for any fancy salads or even to peel and eat one. When I saw that the days were passing and no one was eating them, I had to act quickly before it was too late, as I hate to see anything wasted. I decided to make them into a syrup or grenadine, as it is called.
The usual way to make the syrup would be to extract the juice first and then make the syrup but that is quite messy so instead, I preferred to follow the method I make spoon sweets (fruit preserves), as I wanted to finish quickly. I boiled the pomegranate seeds with a little water and the sugar. While stirring I tried to squeeze out the juice from the seeds by pressing them with the wooden spoon. When it cooled, I then passed it through a thin colander-sieve and squeezed out any remaining juice with the spoon. I think my method is much easier but if you think it is too much work, I can tell you that this syrup is so worth the effort as it is packed with 3 different kinds of antioxidants: anthocyanins, cyanidins and ellagic acids, which are so good for our health.
I make spoon sweets (fruit preserves) all the time, so I know how to make syrups and used one of my favourite flavourings which is the fragrant geranium leaves. If you simmer the syrup for a longer time (about an hour) until it reduces considerably, then you will get pomegranate molasses. However, I preferred to make the syrup, which needed less time.
Before giving you the recipe I was asked by the Friends of Glass, from Belgium, who noticed that I often use glass jars to store in some of my recipes, if I wanted to become part of a project to promote the health and taste benefits of storing our food in glass. I gladly accepted because making jams and spoon sweets, pickles and sauces all the time, I always recycle bottles or jars from other products I buy. Unfortunately I did not have time to write about it at the time but it’s never late to bring awareness about recycling as this does not only benefit our health in the long run but also our pocket as after the international economic crisis, we have to find ways not to spend our money unnecessarily.
Make a difference: Reduce, reuse, recycle. For every earthy reason don’t waste it!!
A few weeks later I got an e-mail from them asking me to send them my address as I would get a package with a whole bunch of NOTHING in it!!! Weird, eh?
Well, I did and guess what? It arrived just the right time when I was preparing my pomegranate syrup!! I was surprised to see on the package written in Greek «This box has NOTHING to hide inside» but also on the bottle and lable a similar message was also written in Greek. It seems that they customized each package in the language of the recipient’s country. Isn’t that cool!!
I got a sauce bottle of NOTHING. However, in this bottle you can store about 350 ml of anyting you like. Just wash the bottle first and then you can use it to store creams, soups, sauces, fresh juices, stock, syrups etc. I later found out that they are giving away 10.000 bottles for free, so if you live in the European Union and want one as well, just follow the link, chose the bottle you like and you can also get your bottle of nothing as well.
How to Make Pomegranate Syrup (Grenadine) from Fresh Pomegranates
Ingredients:
- 3 pomegranates ( or 580 grams seeds – or 4 cups seeds )
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 4 fragrant geranium leaves (or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 cinnamon stick)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
- Score the pomegranate the same way you would peel an orange and remove the skin. Separate the pomegranate seeds from the membranes.
- Add the seeds with the water and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for fifteen minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, trying to squeeze out the juice.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Pour the fruit through a very thin metal colander-sieve in another pot or bowl and squeeze out the remaining juice. Discard the seeds.
- Return the juice to the pot again and bring to boil. Add the fragrant geranium leaves and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the syrup thickens and finally mix in the lemon juice.
- Cool to room temperature before bottling, after discarding the geranium leaves.
I’ve tried this syrup with waffles (recipe will follow soon) but you can add it on crepes, ice cream, Greek yoghurt, cakes, in milk shakes, in drinks (cocktails), in vinaigrettes etc.
Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!!
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Tags: antioxidants, economic crisis, Grenadine, healthy recipes, home economy, How to.., Mediterranean diet, Pomegranate, recycling, syrup, Tips-cooking
Oh, wonderful! I'd love some of that syrup on my pancakes.
Cheers,
Rosa
I have seen in Americanand UK blogs using this molases but we don't get them here and you have mentioned if you boil for a hour you get the molases. I am sure gonna try when i can get hold of the fruit cheaper as here you have to pay 1 € 50 cent more or less for on.
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λέει:
That's quite expensive Finla. I wouldn't pay 1. 5 € for one pomegranate. I think in Greece the whole kilo which is 3 – 4 pomegranates costs about that much.
Pomegranate syrup looks delicious. How long it can be stored. Is it has long shelf life.
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Grenadine looks fabulous, thanks for sharing..
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moi qui adore la grenade je suis servie, une belle préparation
bonne soirée
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I like your method. I think it's really easy and that's the way I make some kinds of syrups. Hmm now I want some pomegranate syrup for my French toast
Homemade grenadiine sounds so much better than the preservative-filled store-bought stuff. I have to try this!
This sounds delicious! I've just become a fan of canning and pickling, so this is right up my alley. In fact I just inherited a whole bunch of jar from my mom, they're vintage
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Months ago they said they sent a box of Nothing to me…but…still no sight of it.
Love your quicker way of making grenadine. SUper!
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Hi Angie,
Our apologies for the delay of your Nothing sample. We had some problems with our distribution. That's why I had your bottle send to my desk so I can send it to you personally. I will take care of it this week.
It's unacceptable you had to wait this long, I hope you will accept my deepest apologies.
Thanks again for your patience!
All the best,
Nickias
Friends of Glass
Twitter: ivyliac
λέει:
Nickias, I'll pass this message on to Angie.
What a great way to make pomegranate syrup. I thought it would be a lot more harder Ivy! Thank you for sharing this and the bottle story! LOL!
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Perfect syrup Ivy. Especially with yogurt I would eat the whole bowl. Πολλά Φιλάκια, Καλό Μήνα!
I love pom syrup! Very easy way to make it … thanks very very much Ivy for sharing … my kids will love this!
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I love this post! I try a lot of jams and syrup too and store them in glass recycled bottles.
[...] I made the pomegranate syrup, the children asked me to make some waffles. I had forgotten we had a waffle iron as it was [...]
Wow I've always wondered how pomegranate syrup was made! I love this post, your pomegranate syrup look sooo good.
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In Italy we call it "granatina." I love the color! Pomegranate juice has become so popular here that you can buy bottles of it at the farmers' market. This makes me smile, because when I was a kid, pomegranates were given to us as a gift from the farmer from whom we bought apples. My brother and I loved eating them, but I think we were the only ones.
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This has to be a treasure or jewel of the pantry. At 3 in the after I am salivating just looking at this. I must be going insane:-) really awesome Ivy. The grenadine that A uses for the drinks is just fake here, sugar syrup. I wish I could make some of this. Thanks for the recipe.
I would probably start with pomegranate juice since that would be more economical here, do you think that would work? The fragrant geranium leaves are an interesting ingredient. I wonder if that is the same as the scented geraniums you can buy here. They come with all different kinds of scents like lemon, nutmeg, peppermint, and rose, I wonder which kind would be like what you are using?
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I have never made it with pomegranate juice but I do not see why it would not work. You will, however, have to ajust the amount of sugar added if the juice already contains sugar. I think that fragrant geranium leaves and scented geraniums must be the same. I didn’t know that there were so many different scents so it’s up to you to decide which one to use.