Ever since Pom Wonderful started marketing the health benefits of pomegranate juice, and selling them in those cool pom shaped bottles, more and more recipes calling for pomegranate molasses have been popping up.
Pomegranate molasses is a traditional ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking and can be used in a variety of dishes such as Fesenjan Persian chicken stew or eggplant lentil stew.
You can also mix it with a little orange juice and club soda for a refreshing punch. Pomegranate molasses can be found at Middle Eastern markets, or you can easily make some yourself with some pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon.
Homemade Pomegranate Molasses Recipe
- Cook time: 1 hour
To make pomegranate juice, place the arils (from about 8 large pomegranates) in a blender and pulse just enough so that the arils are broken up. (Do not pulse so much that you blend the bitter white hard part into the juicy red parts.) Then strain through a fine mesh sieve.
Note that pomegranates vary in their acidity level and sweetness. Depending on the juice you are using, you many need to add more or less sugar or lemon juice to get the right balance of sugar and acidity.
Ingredients
- 4 cups pomegranate juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Method
1 Heat pomegranate juice, sugar, lemon to a simmer: In a large, wide, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers.
Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer.
2 Reduce to a syrup: Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups.
If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.
3 Store in a jar, chilled: Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.
