Wondering what to do with grenadine syrup? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 9 recipes to put it to work.

What is grenadine syrup?

Grenadine is a sweet, deep-red syrup used to color and sweeten drinks, not a flavoring you cook with. The name comes from the French word for pomegranate, and the original is exactly that: pomegranate juice cooked down with sugar into a tart-sweet syrup.

Most supermarket bottles, though, are a different animal. They are corn syrup, water, citric acid, and red dye, with artificial flavor standing in for real fruit.

Both versions do the same job in a glass, but a real pomegranate grenadine tastes brighter and a little sour where the cheap kind reads as flat sugar.

It is the splash that gives a Shirley Temple its pink, the sunrise gradient in tequila drinks, and the rosy tint in countless punches.

How to Use It

Grenadine is dense and high in sugar, so it sinks. That is the whole trick behind a layered drink: pour it last and slowly down the side of the glass, and it settles to the bottom for the sunrise look in something like a Mexican Sunrise Punch.

A little goes a long way. Half an ounce, about a tablespoon, is enough to sweeten and color a full cocktail; pour with a heavy hand and the drink turns cloying and candy-red.

Beyond cocktails it carries the color in non-alcoholic party drinks. It does the work in a Non Alcohol Holiday Punch and a Mock Champagne, and a spoonful adds sweetness and red to a Caribbean Fruit Shake or an iced Tea Punch.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Grenadine pairs naturally with citrus and tropical fruit: orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, and cherry all play off its tartness. It also stands up to spirits with bite, like tequila and rum, where its sweetness rounds the edges.

The most common mistake is stirring it in fully when you wanted a layered effect. Once you stir, the gradient is gone.

For a sunrise, build the drink, then drop the grenadine in last and leave it. The second mistake is buying on price alone: a bottle made from real pomegranate tastes like fruit, while the bargain bottle is essentially red simple syrup. For anything where the flavor matters, read the label.

Substitutes

The easiest stand-in is homemade. Simmer equal parts pomegranate juice and sugar until the sugar dissolves, around 5 minutes, and you have a fresher grenadine than most bottles, with no dye. A splash of lemon juice sharpens it.

In a pinch, pomegranate molasses thinned with a little sugar and water gives you the same tart-sweet color. Cranberry juice cooked down with sugar gets close on color and acidity, though it lacks the pomegranate note.

Plain simple syrup with a few drops of red coloring matches the sweetness and look but none of the fruit. Use it only when color is all you need.

Buying and Storing It

For real flavor, look for a bottle that lists pomegranate juice first; "grenadine syrup" with corn syrup and artificial flavor at the top is the candy version. Brands like Small Hand Foods or a homemade batch are worth it if you make sunrise-style drinks often.

Store an opened bottle in the refrigerator.

Commercial grenadine carries enough preservatives to last many months chilled, while a homemade batch keeps about 2 to 3 weeks and should be refrigerated from the start.

Watch for separation or a sour, off smell, which means a natural syrup has turned. The high-sugar commercial kind rarely spoils so much as it slowly dulls in color and flavor, so buy a size you will actually use.

Quick facts

In Chinese

石榴糖浆

British (UK) term

Grenadine syrup

en français

sirop de grenadine

en español

jarabe de granadina

Recipes using grenadine syrup

There are 9 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 9 recipes