Submitted by nicole on Wed, 02/03/2016 - 04:49

There's nothing like homemade grenadine syrup made with fresh pomegranate. Make Shirley Temples with this grenadine syrup and taste the difference for yourself.

Homemade grenadine syrup recipe to make Shirley Temples and cocktails.

My daughters love a Shirley Temple. Heck, I still love a Shirley Temple, too. So when I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade grenadine syrup on Chowhound, I knew I had to try making it for myself.

What could be better than a Shirley Temple made with homemade grenadine syrup? Well, for the adults, maybe a Shirley Temple Black, the grown-up, cocktail version of a Shirley Temple.

Three pomegranates, two whole, one cut in half, on a wooden cutting board.

The Chowhound recipe started with unsweetened pomegranate juice, but I wanted to do the whole thing from scratch, and that meant juicing my own pomegranates

Removing pomegranate pips in a clear pyrex bowl full of water to make homemade grenadine.

How to Get the Seeds out of Pomegranates:

It's easiest to get the pips out of the pomegranate by dislodging them underwater. The pips sink to the bottom, and the rest of the stuff you don't want floats to the top.
See the stuff that floats? I just skimmed the flotsam off the top of the water, and strained the pips and water with a colander.

Homemade grenadine ingredients on a round wooden cutting board.

Homemade Grenadine:

3 pomegranates, juiced (yields about 1 1/3 cups pomegranate juice
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

Pomegranate seeds in a blender to make pomegranate juice for homemade grenadine.

To juice the pomegranates, place the pips in a blender, and blend away.

Pomegranate seeds being blended to extract pomegranate juice for grenadine syrup.

You'll quickly end up with a frothy pink mixture like you see above.

Blended pomegranate seeds being strained through a mesh strainer and cloth.

Strain the pomegranate pip slurry through a fine-mesh strainer--or even cheesecloth or a paper towel, if the holes in your strainer are a little bit too big for your liking. You'll end up with a beautiful ruby red juice.

Pyrex cup full of pomegranate juice on a white marble surface.

Combine the pomegranate juice and the sugar in a small saucepan, and cook over medium heat for about five minutes, until the sugar is completely dissolved. I had a bit of foam on the top of my syrup, so I just used a spoon to skim it off and throw it away.

Remove the syrup from the heat, and stir in the orange blossom water and the lemon juice. I don't think the orange blossom water is strictly necessary, but it does smell absolutely amazing, and adds fabulous, subtle dimension to the grenadine. The heavy perfume of citrus trees when they blossom is one of my very favorite things about living in the Phoenix area. Trust me, you want this stuff.

Sun shining through a glass bottle of homemade grenadine.

Let the syrup cool, and bottle it up. Look how pretty it is when the sun shines through the syrup! I love that color.

How to Store Homemade Grenadine

Store homemade grenadine in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
I like to put my grenadine syrup in a swing top bottle.

Swing top bottle full of homemade grenadine on a white surface, surrounded by a scattering of pomegranate seeds

How Long Does Homemade Grenadine Syrup Last?

Your homemade grenadine syrup should last two or three weeks in the fridge. It won't last as long as commercial grenadine syrup, because it doesn't have any preservatives.
If you want your grenadine syrup to last longer, dissolve a teaspoon of commercial strawberry jelly (it's full of preservatives, a little goes a long way!) in the grenadine syrup when you're heating it on the stovetop.

Shirley Temple Black cocktail made with homemade grenadine syrup, on a white background.