Pomegranate Molasses

First, an update on our kitchen remodel...


Our new counter tops are in!  Installed, beautiful... Thrilled.


Of course, we still do not have water in the kitchen, but three days in a row now, we are promised that the water will be on this morning.  Cost overruns have topped $500, what was to be a one day job has now grown to 7 days.


But, at least we can do the dishes in the bathroom... it could be worse.

OK, enough of my issues.. Time to cook.  If you remember from yesterday, I have a LOT of fresh real pomegranates.  Yesterday I was just thrilled to get the suckers open and a plate full of the good stuff (the arils that contain the seeds and the juice!  Click HERE to see the easy mostly neat and clean way to open a pomegranate.  Remember, I did that with no water in the kitchen, so no need to make your kitchen look like you "murdered your dog" (have to see yesterday's comments to get the story behind that).


I did ask for suggestions, and I got a few very useful ideas.


But, as we all know, the secret is in the sauce.


So, my first Pomegranate and all those seeds and juice sacks needs to become a sauce.  I will be working on a tangy spicy BBQ sauce shortly.  But yesterday was the sweet.  It's very easy to make a sweet sauce with Pomegranates since they start with that wonderful combination of tart, tangy yet incredibly sweet.  I did some googling around the web and discovered that a molasses made from pomegranate juices has been around the Persia for tens of centuries.  the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and the Turks all had recipes for this thick, sweet, dark brown liquid before the birth of the baby Jesus.


And, once a cook has a sauce, it can be thinned or thickened; baked or drizzled; flavor drinks or desserts.  All I needed to do was make it...


And, easy as could be...


All I needed was...


1 cup Pomegranate Arils ("the botanical term for the seed, surrounded by a juice sack") 
1 cup Pom Wonderful Juice (I could have just opened another Pomegranate and used another cup of Arils, but I had the juice handy)
Juice from 1 Lemon
1 cup Sugar


First step is the juice.  Put the cup of Arils and the cup of Pom Wonderful Juice in a processor and spin away.  Liquefy and then strain the seed parts out.

Set a pot with the processed/strained juice over high heat.  Add the Lemon Juice and sugar and whisk to combine.


Get the liquid boiling.  Then reduce to just a simmer.


And leave it alone for an hour.  


You want the liquid to reduce by half.


Stir a bit more, and start watching.  After an hour, once the liquid has reduced, it starts to darken and thicken up quickly...

Look at the difference between this photo above and the one below...


 


It only took about 10 minutes to go from caramel colored mostly thin sauce to a mostly thick dark brown sauce.


I yielded about 2/3rds of a cup of Pomegranate Molasses.

Now, I wonder what i am going to do with it... any ideas???

Here's one hint, last night I baked a NY style cheesecake just begging for a sweet drizzle...


But...


That's a post for another day.
...