in the 'duh' category

Homemade grenadine kicks store-bought grenadine's ass. I used it to make a Secret Cocktail (gin, applejack, lemon, grenadine, and an egg white), and the results were stunning. I'm going to try it in a Jack Rose tonight. It's very simple to make, but definitely not cheaper or easier than the corn syrup slurm that Angostura puts out. Basically, you macerate the edible bits out of 2 large poms in sugar overnight, then mix in enough sugar to make a syrup. It's easy enough that I can apply the same technique to making other flavors of syrup, hopefully suitable for Italian sodas or whatnot. If pomegranates were cheaper or easier to disassemble, it would be totally worth it. I've bought some bottled 100% pomegranate juice (cheaper than the fruit) and I'm going to see how grenadine made with that compares. If it's even close, the added convenience of getting the poms pre-juiced will be worth it.