grenadine

Grenadine is a red or purple syrup sweetener and colorant made from artificial flavorings and sometimes fruit juices with roots in the late 19th Century soda fountains. Grenadine began to show up in mixed drinks (notably the Jack Rose and Clover Club) in the 1890s as an alternative sweetener to raspberry syrup, sugar or simple syrup. The word “grenadine” is French diminutive for “pomegranate”, and pomegranate syrups go back far in Mediterranean history, but there’s little evidence of actual pomegranate syrup being used in mixed drinks—even in Europe—prior to the late 20th Century “Cocktail Renaissance”. A few 20th Century commercial grenadines claimed to include pomegranate juice amongst their ingredients; if true, the presence of the juice was apparently a nuance. Ostensibly, grenadine is supposed to do three things in a cocktail: dye it crimson, sweeten it (more or less, depending on quantity), and contribute a small amount of fruity flavor (debatable). Quite a few commercial grenadines are available, and they run a wide gamut. Many are artificially-colored sugar syrups that lack notable flavor. Others are naturally-flavored syrups that fail to correctly color the drink they’re added to, and tend toward oxidized, jammy flavors. In the 21st Century, it has become common to reinterpret old drinks that used grenadine using a “gourmet” approach, creating a 2:1 syrup out of commercially-bottled pomegranate juice and sugar. This approach is not historically accurate, the bottled juice tends to bring a “cooked”/jammy character with it, and the resulting syrup will not strongly color a drink red. Another novel approach—highly recommended—is to actually squeeze pomegranates in a citrus press, and blend the fresh juice with sugar. This approach offers far superior flavor and an excellent coloring effect, but will have a short shelf life unless you keep it frozen.