Pomegranate molasses is, in essence, reduced pomegranate juice. Like when you reduce balsamic vinegar, cooking down pomegranate juice creates a thickened syrup with a much more potent flavor. This syrup can be used as a condiment, or added to various dishes to enhance their flavor. Simply reducing pomegranate juice creates a very sour syrup with a powerful, almost overpowering flavor. Reducing pomegranate juice together with a little sugar helps it thicken to a syrup faster, and makes the resulting sauce more palatable. Adding a little lemon juice helps to increase the sauce’s shelf life. This post will walk you through both methods of making pomegranate molasses, and explain my preference between the two.
What is pomegranate molasses?
Pomegranate molasses (also known as pomegranate syrup) is made throughout the Middle East in countries like Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. Traditionally the molasses is made by simply reducing pomegranate juice into a thickened syrup, relying on natural fruit sugars to thicken the sauce. In some areas, sugar is added as a preservative and to counteract the natural tartness of the pomegranate fruit; sugar also helps the syrup to reduce and thicken more quickly. Lemon juice is often added as an acidic preservative to increase shelf life. The amount of sugar varies by region; for example, Iranian (Persian) pomegranate syrup tends to be sweeter than the Lebanese variety.
I add both sugar and lemon to my pomegranate molasses. This is because it is a concentrated, powerful syrup that I only use sparingly, so when I do make it I count on having a bottle in the refrigerator for at least 3 to 4 weeks. Adding the sugar and lemon juice keeps the molasses fresh longer and gives it a nice sweet/tart balance. I like my molasses on the sweeter side.
How do you make pomegranate molasses?
I hesitate to even call this a recipe, because it’s so simple. Once you’ve whipped up a batch of pomegranate molasses, the possibilities are endless!
To start with, you’ll need pomegranate juice. If making from scratch, you’ll need to seed and juice some pomegranates. Store-bought pomegranate juice will work just fine, too, provided it is pure pomegranate juice with no additives.
For a tarter pomegranate molasses with a shorter shelf life, you can simply reduce pomegranate juice on its own with no added ingredients. It will take longer to reduce, and you’ll need to watch it carefully to make sure it doesn’t start to burn. There’s a thin line between thickened and burned… and if you thicken it too much, you’ll end up with a solid piece of syrup when it cools.
How do you use pomegranate molasses?
Pomegranate molasses can be used in a variety of ways to add a pop of flavor to your food. Think of the ways you might use a reduced balsamic vinegar; often, pomegranate molasses can be used as a substitute. I like it as a topping for desserts like ice cream, as a meat marinade, in sauces, and in salad dressings. The sweetened version works nicely as a glaze on roasted vegetables or fish. You can get creative with it; the flavor is really potent and unique.
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Pomegranate Molasses
Ingredients
- 4 cups pure pomegranate juice (bottled or fresh)
- 2/3 cup sugar (optional - recommended)
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional - recommended)
NOTES
Instructions
- You can make pomegranate molasses with added sugar and lemon juice, or without. I prefer making it with, as it will reduce to a syrup much faster, and the end result will be more tasty. However, you can simply reduce plain pomegranate juice if you prefer, which will take longer and produce a much tarter syrup. Pour pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice (or just the pomegranate juice) into a small saucepan.
- Heat up over medium until the sauce begins to simmer lightly. Stir to dissolve sugar. Allow the liquid to simmer very lightly for 60-80 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the liquid reduces by 75% to about 1 cup of molasses. If reducing just the juice without sugar, it will take longer to reduce (up to 2 hours), and you will end up with less liquid in the end to reach the syrupy consistency - roughly 3/4 cup syrup.
- The liquid is ready when it has a light syrupy consistency and coats the back of a spoon. Don't let it thicken too much, or it will harden when it cools.Remove from heat. The syrup will continue to thicken as it cools. If you are unsure about the consistency, measure the reduced liquid-- it should be roughly 1 cup of syrup (or 3/4 cup for juice alone). If it's a lot more liquid than that, continue reducing.
- After the syrup cools completely, store it in an airtight jar or container in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
Nutrition
According to the metric version of your recipe, I need 270 US Gallons of pomegranate juice, and 0.02 US Gallons of lemon juice.
Are you able to provide actual measurements for the ingredients? Unfortunately, a “cup” is a measure that can vary widely, depending on where in the world you are.
Hi Hayley, this was a software glitch. It has been corrected. Let me know if you’re still having issues.
Hi Tory!
Looking forward to making this for the holidays! Quick question; can I sub the sugar for coconut sugar? Thanks!
That should be fine. 🙂
Great recipe!!! I use PomPom pure pomegranate juice & follow your recipe. Heads up, for 2 of the 3 times I made this it took up to 3 hours to reduce to 1 1/4 cup. Would suggest making ahead. Once made on same day as meal and it did not thicken after 90 minutes and had to serve unthickened. Still delicious. Your salmon with mollas
If I halve this recipe think it will still work the same?
My concern would be the small amount of molasses you end up with could overcook easily. You can try it, but you’ll need to watch it closely to make sure it doesn’t burn or dry out. It also won’t take nearly as long to cook down as the recipe states.
We do love pomegranate molass in Turkey and we make it with fresh fruits, juicing the grains only by hand over a strainer, taking care not to include white parts of the fruit and not to crush the white part of the grains (whites give bitterness).
Then we filter and cook the juice over wood fire for roughly 4 hours or until it becomes sirupy.
Thank you Tori for the recipe. I appreciate it being simple to scale according to how much juice I can extract from however many pomegranates I happen to have. Pomegranate molasses is now a staple in our house – used whenever I need that extra something to make a recipe pop.
Incidentally Theresa: 3 fruits yield approx 250ml of juice. I use the spoon whacker method to release the seeds into a large bowl, crush them a bit with my fist then, a couple of spoonfuls at a time, press them in a plastic sieve with a round backed plastic spoon (mines a salad serving spoon), into the same bowl until they stop popping, then put everything through the sieve once more, press again, allow to drain and measure.
If I don’t use it all (that’s a big ‘if’) it keeps very well beyond 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator.
Hy, if i want to make half of your recipes , would it effect the cooking time?
I made some pomegranate molasses from my Persian friends grandmother who was Lebanese. We used star anise (one), cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, lemon, honey, and a few other very interesting things. Nice to spice it up once in a while. I could eat it with a spoon.
That sounds amazing…do you have the exact recipe?
Dear Tori:
I am making Israeli couscous as a side for dinner tomorrow. It calls for pomegranate seeds, green olives, feta and a half of a lemon juiced. I do not have pom. seeds. Can I substitute Pomegranate syrup for the seeds? I would think it’s a different consistency and flavor. Any recommendations?
Hi Elliot– I wouldn’t sub pomegranate syrup, the stuff they sell bottled is quite tart, not sweet like pom seeds. A better sub would be dried cranberries, which have a similar sweet/tart balance to pomegranate seeds– different texture, but same flavor profile. You can soak the cranberries in cold water or apple juice for a few minutes to plump them before adding to the salad, which will make them juicier like pom seeds. Hope that helps!
I have pomegranate molasses…how to make pomegranate juice with that?
Hi Ammu, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Pomegranate molasses is made by reducing pomegranate juice to a thick, molasses consistency, so you won’t be able to make juice from it. Here’s a tutorial for making pomegranate juice: https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-seed-a-pomegranate/
Hi there
I just picked a box full of pomegranates and wanted to make the molasses. I was wondering if the maximum shelf life for this recipe is 3-4 weeks or are there ways of making it last longer. I will probably have a lot of molasses given I have 20-25 pomegranates!
many thanks
Neha
Hi Neha, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! I’m not aware of ways to extend the shelf life of this molasses, unfortunately. I’d say it’s probably best to stick with 3-4 weeks.
I put the jars through a normal canning water bath. It’s good for six months or longer.
You can “can” it, then use the juice to make molasses, jelly, etc. as needed.
I mean less time not longer
Can’t wait to make this again for the fourth Passover in a row! It’s always a hit. Thank you!
Hi!
I definitely want to make it without sugar. I put a liter of 100% organic pomegranate-juice-with-nothing-added in a pan and heated for over an hour and it did not thicken AT ALL…:-(…!!!! All it did was evaporate quite a bit! I was wondering if maybe it has to get to a certain temperature, like when you caramelize sugar….? Any suggestions?
The sugar combo is the magic ingredient that allows it to thicken…won’t work without it.
Hello, I’ve been doing pomegranate molasses at home for years without lemon or sugar, it thickens so well all alone, and the end color is just sublime. the same Ruby color you have in your pictures. Pomegranate Molasses Color gets darker depending on the color of the arils.
I believe that pomegranate fruit is sour enough on its own. But if you want to make it less sour you can add one or two sweet pomegranates instead of sugar.
Hope this helps
We found this Pomegranite Molasses Syrup in Palm Desert at a cute little Spice Shop on El Paseo Drive “Savory”. I assumed by the name that it had Molasses in it and we love Pomegranite so we bought the biggest bottle of it to take home! It has to be used spareingly as it can be quite tart and now I find that there really isn’t any Molasses in it, after reading the recipe. My husband went thru the whole bottle using it over his bowl of ice creme every night! He actually liked it better than me. So if you don’t feel like making it and you live in the Palm Desert area go to “Savory” and buy it there.
It’s pomegranate time! Thank you for the instruction on how to seed a pomegranate, I tried both of your suggestions and the more common spoon beating. Ended up sectioning into 6 sections and getting seeds out by hand.
Now, the molasses. This stuff is addicting! What a great recipe. I used it for your Brussels sprout recipe, in a tomato, shallot lemon & EVOO salad and it goes wonderfully well with a citrus, Dijon, EVOO dressing on kale, bok choy salad. I also had a balsamic vinegar reduction that tossed this salad into the stratosphere!. Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!.
You’re welcome Julie!
Thanks for sharing…I have a question tho..How do I prepare the Pomegranate juice from a fresh Pomegranate fruit? Should I just soak the Pomegranate seeds in water?
Thanks
Bisi here are the instructions you need: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2011/09/how-to-seed-a-pomegranate/
Hi from Oz
I have yet to try this recipe as pomegranates are hard to come by here and the price is ridiculous ~ likewise with juice( $4.80 for a 430ml bottle.)
My plan to remedy this is: To buy and plant my own tree 🙂
But in the meantime, my question is: Can I make the molasses using pomegranate powder and if so what changes would I need to make to your recipe?
Love your posts……Carol
Thank you Carol! Unfortunately I have never heard of pomegranate powder, nor have I cooked with it. I would stick with buying fresh pomegranates from the store or farmer’s market and juicing them as described in this post:
https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-seed-a-pomegranate/
Much cheaper than buying the bottled juice. Enjoy your tree! I have thought about planting one myself.
Hi Tori,
Many thanks for answering my email.
I am now the proud owner of a pomegranate tree which I bought at our Sunday market. All I have to do now is figure out which bit of lawn I need to steal to turn in to garden so I can plant it:)
Out of curiosity I’ve purchased a packet of ‘organic’ pomegranate powder online… I’ll let you know what it tastes like…. fingers crossed it won’t be too blerk.
Cheers from Oz… Carol
Tori,
Not sure what I did wrong but the pamogranate Molasses didn’t reduce, I’ve had it on the fire for almost 3 hours. No sign on thickening here. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Leah
Hi Leah– you can raise the temperature a bit to speed the reduction. A very low simmer works, as long as you keep an eye on it. It will reduce eventually, trust me– just up the heat a bit to speed the process.
Could the pomegranate molasses be frozen?
Hi Lyn, I’m not sure– but I don’t see any need to freeze it, it should last a few weeks in the refrigerator at least.