Pomegranate Molasses

I spoke about Pomegranate Molasses last week on local ABC Radio, but in truth I had long since abandoned my bottle of pomegranate molasses which was looking pretty scungey. (Is this a word?) Of course, there was the initial honeymoon period where I used it in everything, and then bang! Nothing.. it had barely entered my repertoire for 18 months.. and then dear Alice wanted to talk about it last Friday.
I dragged the forgotten bottle out of my ex-linen closet-come-pantry, and in order to prepare for the task ahead, I poured some into a bowl and tasted it. Wow! It was good.. sour, sweet, thick and molasses like. I also sensed some mystery heady element... almost like alcohol. Now I was ready and this is what I discovered:
Pomegranate syrup is made from pomegranate seeds, sugar and lemon.. boiled down.
Pomegranates go way back.. to the old Testament (some believe it to be the forbidden fruit eaten by Even and offered to Adam) and to Greek mythology (eaten by Persephone, who was then banished to the underworld), but most positively spoken about in the Qu'uran, it is called the fruit of paradise.
Back to Pomegranate Molasses. Now, at the time I did this talk on radio, I had really only used pomegranate molasses in two ways.. as a salad dressing, and in pavlova. Yes, Pavlova. Only to be used for berry based fruits.. I put in a dash of pomegranate molasses and rosewater. It works, trust me!
Now, since I spoke about Pomegranate Molasses, we have finished off our old scungey bottle and bought a new bottle. The new bottle is nowhere near as nice and heavy and heady as the old scungey bottle, which Mark tells me he picked up in Hobart two years back, but it's OK. It's also much cleaner looking. It's Alice Springs, and I should thank my lucky stars that I can even buy it here, in the Centre of the Universe.
So, here is my favourite of the week (and I also added it to my boiling corn meat tonight. I figured pomegranate molasses had all the qualities that I would otherwise add as separate ingredients: brown sugar (sweet), vinegar (sour).. and that other special quality .)