Pomegranate Molasses

My husband surprised me last week when he returned from the supermarket with these babies...


I don't think I've ever held a pomegranate, let alone cooked with one, so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them. And so, in typical style, I promptly forgot about them until I saw them in the almost empty fruit bowl this morning. They looked like they needed to be used straight away. I had heard Pomegranate Molasses mentioned on TV cooking shows, so I thought I'd do a bit of research to see whether that was something I could do. I found quite a range of recipes, some using either lemon or lime juice. I had neither lemons nor limes in my rather pathetic looking fruit bowl, but I did have one orange (which I had been saving to serve with my pawpaw, but more of that later), so I ended up using this recipe (which was accompanied by a handy video showing how to juice the pomegranates). I had to adapt the recipe slightly, as my two pomegranates only yielded one cup of juice. Here is what I ended up using:

juice of two pomegranates (approx. 1 cup)
juice of one large orange (approx. 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar

I brought the juice to a boil and let it simmer for around half an hour, until it was beautifully thick. I then poured it into a sterilised jar (taking great care to lick the saucepan afterwards!).

Not a great photo, but you can see the thick, rich red syrup on the spoon. Here's a better look at the oozy goodness inside the jar...


This stuff is truly delicious! I look forward to experimenting with ways to use it. I'm sure it would be lovely mixed with some sparkling mineral water or soda water, and I'll no doubt be trying it with yogurt and ice cream. Of course, I didn't have any of these things in my fridge today, but I did have some pawpaw. I don't really like pawpaw on it's own, I prefer to serve it mixed with freshly squeezed orange juice. As I no longer had an orange in my sad fruit bowl, I figured that the pawpaw and pomegranate molasses might just make a delectable combination. I was right!


I would be happy to make this syrup as a gift for a foodie friend or relative.