Unpacking my leftovers from Thanksgiving 2019, I found a surprise in my bag: a bottle of pomegranate molasses. It wasn’t mine, but since no one else had claimed it after the mass cooking session, our hostess Jill decided I needed it.
I put the stowaway on the high kitchen shelf along with the rose water and orange blossom water, and pretty much forgot about it unless I needed something behind it.
But in the spirit of using what I have in the house, I decided I’d figure out what to do with that bottle of pomegranate molasses. The thick, dark red syrup has a deep flavor similar to molasses along with the tang of pomegranate.
This year, I’m planting a pomegranate in my garden. If you have room, the pomegranate is one of the prettiest bushes you can imagine. The flowers are bright coral-red trumpets with a burst of yellow on a field of oval deep green leaves.
The flowers that bear fruit are bisexual. But it’s the multitude of arils inside the bright leathery skin that inspired all those myths linking it to fertility. There’s some kernel of truth in the legend. The pomegranate is loaded with antioxidants and has health benefits for the cardiovascular system, along with calming inflammation, fighting cancer and enhancing testosterone in both men and women.
The pomegranate‘s little corona or crown on top where the blossom formed gives it a royal air. That surely inspired artist Salvador Dali.
My first version of the Corona Sour included blood orange juice since I was trying to use those up, but any fresh orange or tangerine juice will do. I was also making them with my house bourbon, Four Roses Yellow Label, but for Cinco de Mayo, it seemed right to crack open this mezcal I brought back from Oaxaca.
Salud!
Corona Sour Cocktail Recipe
Makes 1 cocktail
1.5 ounces mezcal or bourbon
1/2 ounce pomegranate molasses
Juice of 1/2 lime (about 3/4 ounce)
1/2 ounce orange juice
Splash Creole Bitters
Wedge of lime, 3 pomegranate arils
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until your hand starts to get uncomfortably cold. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lime wedge and 3 pomegranate arils.
Recipe by Maria Hunt aka The Bubbly Girl
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