Yes.

Care to elaborate, Ginger? (I don't think GardenLad was looking for survey responses! LOL)

I've also seen it in the grocery stores and would like to know what kind of recipes to use it in -

TIA

Lori

Hey Gardenlad, nice to see you posting again. I've never tried pomegranate Molassas but I have seen a few recipes that call for it. Like a Pomegranate Cocktails.

Here is a link to some recipes using Pomegranates. Some also call for the pomegranate Molassas.

Thanks for those links, Ann. Some of them look mighty good.

I have been posting over here. Just not over there.

GL, I use it for marinades; there is a chicken dish in Ann's link under 'Entree's that looks kinda like what I do.

There is a Persian dish called 'Khoresht Fesenjan' that has sauteed walnuts, onions, and pomegranate molasses or paste as a sauce for chicken. I make it every once in a while, but the kids don't eat it because it has nuts :-(

Khoresht Fesenjan
Ingredients: (6 servings)

Chicken pieces, 1-1.5 kgs

Ground walnuts, 500 grams

3-4 onions

Pomegranate juice, 3-4 glasses (or 4-5 spoons of pomegranate paste)

Sugar, 2-3 spoons

1/2 cup of cooking oil

Salt

Directions:
Peel onions and slice thinly. Fry in oil until slightly golden. Wash chicken pieces and fry in onions until color changes. Add 3 glasses of hot water and bring to boil. Turn heat down and let boil slowly for about 30 minutes adding more hot water if needed.

Add salt, ground walnuts and pomegranate juice or paste (if using pomegranate paste, add 2 more glasses of hot water and bring to slow boil). If pomegranate juice or paste is sour, add some sugar to the khoresht.

Care should be taken to cook the khoresht long enough so that the oil in walnuts comes out and the mix becomes quite thick. Khoresht fesenjan should be served with white rice.

Sounds good,Jessy, although I would likely substitute honey for the sugar.

Incidentally, if anyone tries any of the dishes in Ann's link, read the recipes _carefully_! The first two I downloaded had serious errors in either the ingredients lists or the directions.

Nothing an experienced cook can't fix. But something to be aware of.

gardenlad, one of my all time fav restaurants in DC, Zatinya, serves the molasses in a pool in olive oil for bread dipping. (You pour the olive oil first and then float the molasses on the center, or swirl them for a pretty look.)

It's wonderful drizzled over roasted eggplant.

It's wonderful drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

gardenlad- Please elaborate exactly on the errors that you found. I'm looking at the Grilled Chicken recipe and don't see any, but I could miss something at 3 am.
Thanks!

In the Grilled Chicken in a Pomegarnate Marinade the directions say "Combine all ingredients but coriander in a dish......" There is nothing said later on about what to do with the coriander.

In this one I suspect the error comes from the fact they list 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander, and, later on, "1/4 cup chopped coriander (cilantro)". What they probably mean is that you use the dry coriander in the marinade, then sprinkle the finished chicken with the cilantro.

In the Bulgur & Pomegranate Salad the directions tell you to "add tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, mint....." There are no pomegranate seeds listed in the ingredients.

Like I say, nothing an experienced cook can't figure out. But for those like Friend Wife, who cook by rote and cannot pre-envison what a dish requires, they would be a problem.

Would pomegranate molasses be the same thing as pomegranate syrup? I saw a bottle of that tonight when I was shopping and thought about buying it.

Teresa

Maybe. It might just be another name. Or, as is often with things that say "syrup" it might have sugar and thickeners added.

For instance, I bottle of tamarind syrup I have lists as ingredients: Rose Water, Sugar, Tamarind, Citric Acid, and Caramel. Obviously, a lot different than merely boiling down tamarind juice.

But that's what pomegranate syrup is; pomegranate juice that's boiled down to make it thicker and syrupy.

So just read the label before buying that syrup. If it's only thickened juice then you have the molassas we've been discussing.

Teresa, my guess is that they are one and the same - thick pomegranate juice. I know Grenadine has added sugar. What was in the ingredients? Trader Joes' sells a Pomegranate Glaze, which just has pom juice and citric acid.

According to this source, pomegranate molasses is concentrated pomegranate syrup. What I have is pomegranate paste by Sadaf, which is even more concentrated than the molasses, and it is 100% pure pomegranate. It's sweet enough to eat on ice cream, but I put it on strawberries and other fruit. For me, it is too sweet for barbeque sauce or any meat dishes, but that's my personal preference.

Lars

The label on my bottle says "made from 100% juice." Under the ingredients it says, "Pomegranate concentrated juice."

I'm using the Cortas brand, which is made in Lebanon.

I would describe it as a complex sour. It has undertones of sweetness and fruitiness, but isn't sweet in the usual sense. More like the sweetness of Balsomic vinegar then, say, that of tamarind syrup.