The Cuban Rose

     The Cuban Rose is one of the more obscure Cuban Cocktails, I've only been able to find the  recipe in "The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book" "Cuban Concoction" section.   This is a very simple and nice cocktail that comes from the early 20th century and is still very tasty today.

     The only draw back to the original recipe that I have found is that it calls for grenadine.  At the time when the recipe was created grenadine was a syrup made of sugar and pomegranate juice.  Today it is a concoction of high fructose corn syrup miscellaneous dyes and artificial flavors. 

     Grenadine wasn't always a crimson concoction of chemicals -- before production cost introduced high fructose corn syrup to the game, the real thing used to be made from pomegranates.  Real grenadine comes from fruit! And once you've made the real thing, from a simple grenadine recipe, we I promise you'll never use anything else again. 

     Grenadine is basically simple syrup made with pomegranate juice instead of water.    Just pick up a bottle of POM Wonderful (sugar and additive free).    For a pint of grenadine, you'll need one cup of pomegranate juice to one cup of sugar.   Combine room temperature pomegranate juice and sugar in a pint-sized mason jar. Put into a cocktail shaker and shake until all the sugar is dissolved.   This is true and simple grenadine the way it was intended to be.



The Cuban Rose

• 1 1/2 ox. Good White Rum
• 3/4 oz. Orange Juice
• Dash of Homemade Grenadine or DeKuypers Pomegranate Liqueur

Placer all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of orange peel.