Making Homemade Pomegranate Molasses Is Easy As 1, 2, 3

My grocery store, smack-dab in the middle of Nowheresville, N.Y., is sparse, to say the least. It’s the kind of place where discovering a head of radicchio is akin to winning the vegetable lottery.

The condiment aisle can be equally maddening: A jar of harissa is there one week and gone the next. There are either three kinds of tahini or none at all. And finding pomegranate molasses? Forget it.

The tart, thick, ruby-red syrup was my ingredient unicorn. I longed to swirl it into stews, add it to muhammara, and mix it into marinades. I needed its piquant, puckery tang. So, sick of waiting, I decided to make pomegranate molasses myself.

Luckily, making your own pomegranate molasses requires just three ingredients, a bit of time, and a lot of reducing. Essentially, you're boiling pomegranate juice for an hour or so, until it becomes syrup.

Homemade pomegranate molasses keeps in your refrigerator for up to 6 months. That means you have no excuse not to use it with reckless abandon. And given its sweet-and-sour, almost tannic depth (think: wine), this shouldn’t be a problem.

Here's how to make it:

Step 1: Place all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Over medium heat, cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar completely dissolves.

Step 2: Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 70 to 80 minutes, or until the mixture is the consistency of thick syrup.

Step 3: Allow to cool for 30 minutes and then transfer the molasses to a glass jar to cool completely.

A Few Recipes to help you use it up:

1. Pomegranate Roasted Carrots

Gently toss the the sticky, sweet-tart pomegranate molasses with the carrots about 5 minutes before they finish roasting—this helps prevent baked-on scorches. A sprinkling of fresh cilantro makes a bright, green complement to the tangy, smoky flavor of the carrots.

2. Pomegranate Flank Steak

Flank steak gets ramped up with a sweet-meets-savory marinade of garlic and anchovy paste, plus pomegranate molasses, honey, shallots, and other punchy ingredients. The result is tender, juicy, and brimming with flavor. (It's so good you'll probably be tempted to eat leftovers straight from the fridge.)

3. Pomegranate Molasses Crumb Cake

This tangy, slightly acidic crumb cake has "all the best parts about a classic crumb cake (namely, lots and lots and lots of buttery crumbs) without the blandness or dryness of an Entenmann's store-bought variety," notes food writer and editor Sarah Jampel.

4. Avocado with Pomegranate Molasses, Tomatoes, Citrus & Basil

This vegan-friendly "statement salad" doesn't skimp on flavor, even with a relatively short ingredients list—which includes pomegranate molasses and pink lemons (for the dressing), as well as crunchy roasted pepitas.

5. Brown Butter Granola with Honey & Sumac

This isn't your average granola, thanks to a few very impactful additions (pomegranate molasses, sumac, and brown butter). It would taste great over Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, but truthfully, we'd be happy eating it by the handful.

6. How Do I Love Thee Muhammara?

"Make a lot, you won't regret it!" says food historian and recipe developer Ozoz Sokoh (aka Kitchen Butterfly) of this red pepper and walnut dip with Syrian origins.

7. Eggplant & Tomato Stew With Pomegranate Molasses

Cookbook author Louisa Shafia recommends making this Persian eggplant and tomato stew, which is called bademjan in Farsi, on a lazy day when you have lots of time to caramelize the onions and let the finished stew rest on the stove, so the flavors can develop.

What's your favorite use for pomegranate molasses? Tell us in the comments!