POM and Pellegrino

Back to POM, I saw a recipe for a simple ginger syrup in an issue of Everyday Food. I thought I remembered seeing one for just ginger syrup, but this included the peel and core of a pineapple. No worries, I simply omitted the pineapple and sliced a lime, substituting an 8 oz. bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice for one cup of the water. I think I squeezed in the juice of half a lime after it finished cooking down, too.

You're essentially making a flavored simple syrup except that the water to sugar ratio is about 4:1 instead of 1:1, and instead of heating just until the sugar dissolves you boil away for 20-30 minutes or until it's reduced to one cup. And of course this allows the aromatics to infuse into the liquid.

I mix the concentrate with sparkling mineral water to create a pseudo-soda beverage. I don't have the exact ratio since I add the syrup to taste.

Whilst the aroma of fresh ginger was a bit intense when cooking, once mixed with the sparkling water it just had a nice light after bite that wasn't intense at all, but present somethemore. Pellegrino is nice and all, but this drinked needed a sparkling mineral water with more punch. It'd probably work with tonic water as well, but that's already sweetened, and I don't really prefer the taste of seltzer. My mom had a brand that was Mexican I really liked, but I forgot the name. I'm not sure if I could taste the lime at all, though perhaps it added something.

I'm never sick, but I think I have some sinus cold or something that I probably picked up from the race. You know, the handling of cups at water station, the giant tub of ice water you have to dip your hand into to grab a bottle of Powerade. Yeah. At least it wasn't the swine flu.

Anyway, I love ginger drinks when I'm sick. I get these honey-ginger tea packets from the Asian store that I love, but can only tolerate in intervals. Also, those are for hot beverages, whilst this made a cold, soothing drink. I might try this again with honey in place of sugar to see what happens.

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ginger POM juice syrup
Adapted from an Everyday Foods recipe

ingredients ~
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
1 cup sugar
8 oz. POM 100% pomegranate juice
3 cups water
1 lime, sliced thinly
1/2 a lime
Sparkling mineral water

directions ~

1. Place ginger slices in a medium saucepan with the sugar, POM juice, water, and lime slices. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, 25-30 minutes. Strain, discarding solids; chill.


2. Mix to taste with mineral water and sip away.