I'm a little embarrassed to say that with all these years of ordering Shirley Temples for my kids, I've never known what exactly goes into one. With The Niece's birthday lunch coming up and my wanting to serve a festive drink, I can now tell you not only what goes into Shirley Temples, but what grenadine is.
Grenadine is a bright red syrup made from pomegranate and sugar. After
reading that commercially bottled grenadine contains these ingredients:
high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, FD&C Red #40, and FD&C Blue #1, I made the easy decision to make my own grenadine.
Simply buy a bottle of POM pomegranate juice. Dissolve ¼ cup of sugar in 1 cup of juice over medium heat and then boil it for about 5 minutes or until it's slightly thickened.
Shirley Temples were traditionally made with ginger ale, grenadine and a dash or orange juice, but nowadays an orange slice suffices for the oj. (I forgot to add it for the kids.)
Shirley Temple
ginger ale
splash of grenadine
maraschino cherry
orange slice for garnish
Looks and sounds great! While you're at it, you should try making your own maraschino cherries. You don't even want to know what they do to the store-bought ones.
ReplyDeleteHere's a recipe by Cupcake Project: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2009/06/homemade-maraschino-cherries-dont-put.html
I always wondered what was in grenadine! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy Girls love these on their Daddy Daughter birthday nights out! Thanks for the homemade version!
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