Cranberry Grenadine

Homemade Grenadine is an ingredient that gets used a lot at the bar. It adds a hint of earthy sweetness and a nice reddish color to cocktails, and it really is a massive step up in flavor from the red-hued “grenadine” that most places are selling. Grenadine is a very easy syrup to make and you can easily adapt the technique to making other syrups for your bar. This Cranberry Grenadine is a seasonal recipe that I made for holiday drinks to serve in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Cranberries are everywhere during this holiday period – in cranberry sauce, in muffins and in desserts – so why shouldn’t they be in your cocktails, too?

This homemade syrup is an excellent ingredient to work with. It is sweet and has a pleasantly syrupy consistency, but it still has plenty of the tartness that cranberries are known for. You’ll get a lot more cranberry flavor in a cocktail using this instead of straight juice, and you won’t have to use as much of it, either. This recipe makes a relatively small batch and keeps for about two weeks or so in the fridge. I recommend doubling it if you’re going to do a lot of holiday entertaining because it is very easy to go through it quickly.

Cranberry Grenadine
1 cup 100% cranberry juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp orange flower water

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until all sugar is dissolved. Stir in orange flower water. Cool to room temperature and refrigerate until ready to use.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.