I like grenadine. I don't know that before today I've ever had it freshly made. As a longtime (although not in recent years) consumer of Shirley Temples who does not love maraschino cherries, I can tell you that I have had a long relationship with grenadine. In fact there was a little French Brasserie (La Crepe) in Forest Hills when I was growing up and we would go there for lunch on Saturdays before going to the movies. I was very comfortable there and on the odd occasions when we would go there for dinner I would abandon our table, plant myself at the bar and drink Shirley Temples and chat with the bartender all night long.
These days I like my new fangled version of an old fashioned for my evening cocktail. It consists of 1 1/2 ounces of good bourbon (house pour is Knob Creek), a few dashes of Bokers bitters, 1 teaspoon of grenadine and 1 drop of Boyajian orange oil, served on the rocks in a short glass. I ran out of Stirrings grenadine the other day and decided to try the Fee Brothers version because their bitters are some of my favorites. Big mistake, and that's all I'm going to say about that. I was motivated to look for a grenadine recipe online and came up with two versions from the Cocktail Chronicles. I made the fresh version today with help shaking from Amaya. We kept it alcohol free so that she could enjoy the fruits of her labor too. It was economical and super delicious, especially mixed with seltzer and served on the rocks. Here's the recipe with our few small tweaks.
Grenadine
450 grams/ 2 cups POM pomegranate juice
250 grams/1 1/4 cups sugar
1.5 grams 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2.5 grams/ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla rice wine vinegar ( 1 bottle rice wine vinegar+ 1 vanilla seed, pod and seeds, macerated for at least 2 weeks)
Put the POM, sugar, salt and vinegar in an empty Knob Creek Bottle. Shake vigorously for minutes or so until everything is dissolved. Store in the refrigerator.
Years Past
April 18, 2009
