I didn’t know what to make of grenadine at first.
My bartending manuals barely reference the colorful syrup except as an ingredient here and there. Tequila Sunrises, Hurricanes, Shirley Temples, and a bevy of other sweet drinks all call for the bright red substance, but my books provided no explanation of its flavor or composition or origin. After doing some digging, I learned grenadine gets its color and flavor profile from the pomegranate. The name “grenadine” even comes from the French word for pomegranate, grenade.

Unfortunately, there are no standard regulations around grenadine’s contents, so it’s difficult to know what might be lurking in those red-tinted bottles at the back of the bar. Many store-bought grenadines rely on high fructose corn syrup, artificial blackcurrant flavoring, and Red #40 food dye to achieve those signature bright red hues (at the cost of flavor and health). As such, I’d rank mass-produced grenadine alongside sour mix and speed-aged whiskey as products to avoid. If only we could make a version truer to old school grenadine (as if you didn’t already know we were going to)…

Old School Grenadine
Place equal parts sugar and pomegranate juice in a mason jar and shake until dissolved.

Yep, that’s all it takes. It doesn’t have the bright red hue of the commercial versions; rather, this grenadine is a deep purplish red. The flavor also comes off slightly more tart than the corn syrup infused store-bought stuff, and this plays beautifully with rums, tequilas, and citrus-heavy cocktails. If you want a sweeter syrup, you can always play with the sugar levels, but whether you go sweet or tart, homemade grenadine makes for a far tastier cocktail.