Homemade Pomegranate Molasses is a useful DIY food condiment, used in middle eastern cuisine to add flavor to meals.
My pomegranate molasses recipe is made of real seedless pomegranate juice and is the base of this easy recipe!
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Ingredients
- Pomegranate Juice — Freshly pressed juice. Don't use pomegranate juice bought in stores, as it is sweet! Pomegranate molasses should be tart, as it is used to season food in the Middle East.
- Sugar — Adding sugar is optional and depends on your needs and how you will be using these molasses. For savory meals, it is recommended not to sweeten the pomegranate molasses too much.
- Juice of one Lemon — Also optional and should be only added for flavor or to balance out the sweetness if you added sugar. You may want to add lemon juice too if your pomegranate are not sour enough because Pomegranate molasses is a tart condiment.
How to make it?
Step 1
Juice pomegranates. Collect juice and strain.
Step 2
Pour pure juice into a pan. You have the option to stir in sugar and lemon juice.
Heat the juice and slowly cook it down over a medium to low-heat setting.
Step 3
Cook down your molasses until you are satisfied with the thickness. It should be thick enough to be used in your food as a flavoring. This can take 60-90 minutes.
Pour into a jar to store and use as needed.
📖 Recipe
Pomegranate Molasses Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Pomegranate Juice
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar optional, *see Notes
- Juice of one Lemon optional
Instructions
- If you haven't done that yet, prepare your pomegranate juice first. I like mine without seeds, but if you don't mind the taste of seeds in the pomegranate juice, then just blend them to a juice and strain the bits.
- Keep a cooking pot ready and pour the juice into it. Keep on the heat.
- At this point, you mix in the sugar or lemon juice, it's optional.
- Bring the whole mix to a rolling boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Now all you need to do is to slowly reduce the pomegranate juice to a thick molasses. It needs to cook slowly down or else it will burn on, or the taste will be compromised.
- The cooking down can take about 60–90 minutes. Stir at times and keep an eye on the thick syrup.
- The molasses is ready when it has thickened totally, as seen in my pictures. The molasses will look more liquid when cooking hot, so you can do a test by dripping some into a cold plate or a glass with cold water. That way you will know the consistency quickly, and you can decide if you want to bottle it up or let it cook and reduce further. You can choose how thick you want your fruit molasses, it's up to you, but don't over do it for obvious reasons.
- Fill the molasses into a clean and sterilized jar. Fill it up to the rim, close with the clean lid well and turn upside down to create a vacuum. Leave it that way for 24 hours.
- Store in a cool and dry place until further use. Keep in the fridge once opened. Don't forget to label with the date and the contents.
Notes
Nutrition
Tips
Some people use commercial pomegranate juice, but that's a poor, lazy choice to make a flavorful pomegranate condiment. You never know what they add to those pomegranate juice packets!
You should be careful not to burn the juice when it's cooking down.
So, while your pomegranate juice is turning into thick molasses, you can cook your dinner or prepare some other treats.
The pomegranate juice is done whenever you think it's thick enough.
Storing
The fruit condiment keeps really well over a very long period of time. Some people claim they keep theirs over years in the cupboard, unopened.
Once opened, I mostly store it in the fridge to avoid mold growth. This is important in a hot and humid climate.
Applications
- Lebanese Eggplant Moussaka Stew
- Use a drizzle in fruit salads or to your Persian Shirazi salad
- Add some to your dips and sauces
- Prepare a roast chicken in fruit molasses
- Add it to cocktails and drinks
- Create a pomegranate glaze for meats and vegetables
- Mix a pomegranate vinaigrette salad dressing
- Fesenjan - Iranian stew
- Fattoush salad with zaatar and molasses
- Tabbouleh with pomegranate flavors
- Persian style stuffed Fish with Pomegranate
