I’ve run out of grenadine, and decided it was time to make up a batch, since we’re getting those super-big pomegranates from the new crop out of California.
For those of you who haven’t had homemade grenadine, you really should try it. Its not that hard to make, and it tastes so much better than the coloured syrup you get at the store. Since reading Tiare’s (from A Mountain of Crushed Ice) post about how she includes hibiscus flowers in her grenadine, I’ve never looked back.
After a bit of tinkering, I came up with a slightly different formulation than Tiare. Mine starts with a 3:1 syrup base, and uses A LOT of pomegranate to really boost the flavour.
You need to combine the sugar and water first and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the pomegranate seeds … and then the hibiscus flowers. You need to boil the whole works for at least 2 minutes, and then let it steep for at least 1 hour to get the flavours out of the flowers and seeds.
Strain out all the solids using a tea strainer or cheesecloth, and you have a beautiful ruby coloured syrup that you can use in cocktails. It is really packed with lots of pomegranate flavour.
Grenadine with Hibiscus Flowers
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- Seeds from 2 whole pomegranates
- 1/2 cup dried hibiscus flowers
A bonus of adding the hibiscus flowers is that after the syrup is made, the flowers are hydrated and can be separated from the seeds, repacked into a 250 ml. jar with some brandy syrup and used as a garnish for fancy sparkling cocktails.
I`m happy you like the addition of hibiscus flowers too, since i started to use those i`ve never looked back either. I will try to add more pomegranate next time i make it. But i can`t get those flower garnishes here as the dried flowers here are more or less crushed.In the UK there are jars sold with those flowers in syrup made for bubbly drinks.
Thanks for the inspiration Tiare! We also have the jars of flowers in syrup here, but they are horribly expensive! so when I saw how beautiful the whole flowers came out of the pomegranate syrup, I decided to fish them out and make my own! I get the hibiscus flowers from an herbal remedy store in bulk, and can get about 6 cups of whole flowers for about $5, compared to the little 200 ml jar with 11 flowers for $10.
This fancy jar with flowers is a trap! ..its just dried flowers and syrup is sugar and water.
Cheers!
Tiare