I adore the taste of rich, tangy pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi. It is an essential ingredient in Antakya and southern Turkish cuisine and widely used in Middle Eastern cooking. The concentrated flavor of pomegranates molasses adds so much goodness and flavor to salads, casseroles, dips and desserts.
In addition of its delicious and natural sweet and tangy taste, pomegranate is also very rich in nutrient, packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. I have lots of fond memories of drinking freshly squeezed pomegranates, nar suyu, during my travels in Turkey, like this glass we had while visiting Pergamum, during our culinary and cultural tours.
Pomegranates feature often especially in southern Turkish and Antakya cuisine. We use the thick & fragrant pomegranate molasses sauce, nar eksisi in Spicy Bulgur wheat salad, Kisir, a specialty in the southeast of Turkey, offered as a welcome to guests. This delicious sauce adds so much flavor to Gavurdagi Salad of tomatoes, onions and walnuts. We also like to “bathe” vegetables like peppers and zucchini or courgettes in pomegranate molasses, before stuffing them with aromatic rice and ground meat, as in this Stuffed peppers with bulgur, ground meat and pomegranate molasses. You can also serve pomegranate molasses and olive oil in a small bowl to accompany Potato and bulgur rolls, Patatesli, bulgurlu kofte; their flavor complement one another so beautifully. This lovely condiment, Nar Eksisi, and many more wholesome condiments and recipes are featured at my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes From My Homeland, available to order at this link.
I was very excited to get some big, juicy pomegranates at my Turkish food market in North Cheam, England and made my own pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi. It is worth while making your own, as it will be all natural and less sweet than the commercial ones; you will really taste the pomegranates and nothing else.
It is easy to make pomegranate molasses at home; the trickiest bit is getting the juice out of the pomegranate seeds. The way I do is to take out all the seeds, place a large bowl under the sink and squeeze the pomegranate seeds with your hands through a sieve over the bowl. Try to extract as much of the juice as you can. Or if you are lucky enough to get freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, you can use that too.
You can keep your home made pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi, covered in the fridge for at least two months. It will thicken more as it cools down and sets in the fridge, so good to bear in mind. Pomegranate molasses is in constant use in our kitchen from a simple salad dressing to adding flavors to the meals and worth the investment.
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
- 1058 ml /4 ½ cups / 2 ¼ lb. freshly squeezed pomegranates juice (out of 8 large pomegranates)
- 26 gr / 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- Take out all the pomegranate seeds and save in a bowl.
- Place a large bowl and a sieve under the sink.
- Squeeze the pomegranate seeds with your hands through a sieve over the large bowl. Try to extract as much of the juice as you can. Discard the left over seeds.
- Pour in the freshly squeezed pomegranate juice in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the sugar.
- Bring the pan to a boil over medium to high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the lemon juice, mix and reduce the heat to medium to low, just enough for simmering.
- Simmer for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes; the juice will get thicken and reduce to ¾ cups.
- Turn the heat off and let the pomegranate molasses cool. It will thicken more as it cools down.
- Once cool, pour into a glass jar with an airtight lid on.
- Store in the fridge up to 2 months.
- Makes ¾ cup / 177 ml/ 6 fl oz. pomegranate molasses
i wish i could make my own but pomegranates are way too expensive here.
I know what you mean Jaz, they are much more expensive abroad and I need to hunt for offers; having said that the pomegranate molasses keep so well in the fridge for a long time and a little bit of it goes a long way, so it’s a worthy investment if you can.
Özlem’ciğim, We love nar ekşisi as well – partly because you taught us how to appreciate it to its fullest with your recipes. We also have one of those big squeezers shown in your first photo which helps. Up to now, we’ve only used it to squeeze pomegranate juice to mix with vodka! Now, I have another mission – homemade pom molassas. Çok teşekkürler, öptüm. J
So glad to hear it dear Jolee, and the homemade pomegranate molasses would be lovely with the juicy pomegranates you can get at home, hope you enjoy making your own, cok sevgilerimle, Ozlem
Lovely recipe and pictures. And once you have it on hand, pomegranate molasses can find many uses:) xxPeri.
Thank you Peri, I agree with you, pomegranate molasses have multiple uses and keep in the fridge for a long time, worth the investment:) Ozlem xx
. . even if only used for a salad dressing it is such a delightful taste.
I so agree Alan, thank you!
Merhaba from Poland! 🙂 For the pomegranates, is the amount of 4 1/2 cups for the pomegranate juice itself? I have my sturdy Turkish juicer, as pictured, so I use that whenever I get some fresh pomegranates, which sometimes go on sale here!
Yes Joy, 4 1/2 cups is the actual pomegranate juice itself – great that you have the juicer, it saves a lot of time and cleaning up! I got my pomegranates on sale here too, worth hunting for, many thanks for stopping by!
Our pomegranate tree has massive fruit this year. I have a glass of the juice next to me as I write. I shall certainly be boiling some of it for molasses.
How lucky that you can grown your own pomegranates BB, enjoy them – and hope you enjoy making your own pomegranate molasses, it’s an essential ingredientt in our house.
Pomegranate molasses is honestly one of my most favourite things::I could almost drink it from the bottle! I refer to it as the new balsamic. But truth to tell, I don’t see myself making it anytime soon when I can so easily buy it :)))
Merhaba Claudia, thank you for stopping by! I have the same feelings for pomegranate molasses, I find myself licking the spoon all the time! The real thing is truly delightful without the additives and you can get that at home, lucky you!:) Since I can’t, made my own, really happy with the result.
I’ve often thought that I should try making my own pomegranate molasses, especially since I seem to use such a lot of it. Now I know how to do it, so I just need to find some pomegranates and some time. It’s the time of year when I start cooking lots of red cabbage and these days I usually add some pomegranate molasses following your example. (I think that recipe appeared on your blog around 3 years ago now – time passes so quickly).
It is worth making your own Phil, if you can. I noticed even supermarkets run special offers on pomegranates these days, very satisfying to make your own. And it would pair really well with red cabbage, thanks for reminding me too!
Good one, I will try it in Indian cuisine. We have plenty of pomegranate.
Thank you for your note – such a delicious, tangy condiment, hope you enjoy pomegranate molasses, Afiyet Olsun, Ozlem
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I was curious how this is made as I often use pomegranate molasses in my cooking (especially with ground beef/lamb) but buy it ready-made.
So excited it is pomegranate season here, wishing you all the best 🙂
I am very pleased with your website. I have been in TURKEY several times, and love their food, thank you for doing this great website! liz.
Merhaba Liz, thank you very much for your kind note, so glad you’re enjoying the recipes here, delighted to hear it!
I just really cant believe it! After seven years of cooking turkish, I finally know how to obtain nar eksisi, thank you so much, many my favourite recipies called for it, and I always have omitted it…now Im thrilled to have it done at home, you are genious. Thanks once again!
Merhaba Natalie, delighted to hear it : ) A bit of nar eksisi really add a lot of flavor and easy to make, so glad you’ll be enjoying it – afiyet olsun!
Bende bu yaz memleketen getirdim ev yapımı nar ekişini. Çok güzel. Yapımı bayagi meşakkatli ama tadı süper.
sevgiler…
Merhabalar sevgili Senay, cok tesekkurler notunuz icin; gercekten ev yapimi nar eksisinin yeri bambaska, elinize saglik, Sevgiler, Ozlem
Love, love, love pomegranate molasses – we’ve always got a bottle in the fridge, preferably bought from one of the local villages rather than the supermarket. 🙂 We even drizzle it into food you’re perhaps not supposed to. 😉
Julia
Kindly can we use honey in the recipe instead of sugar? If yes How much. I cannot eat sugar for health reasons
Thanks in advice
Jahid
Merhaba Jahida, many thanks for stopping by. Honey is a good idea for substitution; I would start with 1 tbsp. honey and check the taste; I like my pomegranate molasses more on tangy side than sweet; so you can adjust if you prefer a little sweeter for a bit more extra. Hope you enjoy making, best wishes, Ozlem
I do not have a juicer. Could I simmer the pulp first then strain out the seeds before continuing to reduce to a syrup? Also, is the added sugar and lemon juice actually necessary? I am thinking of making this of the pulp only, Nothing added.
You could try that Adriane, why not? And by all means take out the sugar and lemon juice if you like – having said that a bit of sugar and lemon juice also help thickening the sauce. You could try honey instead if you like. I believe the food we make should reflect our taste so I always encourage readers to tweak the recipes to their taste. I hope this helps.
Merhaba, Ozlem.
I just got back from my 2-months trip in Turkey and I wanted to keep some Turkish taste in my life so I tried making nar eksisi following your recipe. It came out really tasty. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! Thank you 🙂
Merhaba Olga; thank you so much for your kind note; very glad to hear you enjoyed making nar eksisi with my recipe and keeping those wonderful Turkish flavors of your visit alive : ) Do hope you enjoy other recipes too, many thanks for letting me know : ) My best wishes, Ozlem
Merhaba Ozlem, as I promised I’m reporting about my Christmas gift Nar Eksisi. It turned out delicious. Instead of squeezing the juice out by hand I used a blender. I pulsed the blender a few times and then use a sieve to squeze out the rest of the juice. It tastes great! Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Merhaba dear Anja, thank you so much for this lovely note, delighted to hear your nar eksisi was a success!You are very welcome, afiyet olsun, Ozlem
Hi Ozlem! I’ve been searching to buy this sauce for more than 2 years! (from Chile) i got an arabic one, but is not the same i used to eat with my salads in Istanbul. I’m trying to cook it right now, during my quarantine, i made it with 3 pommergrates, and i can’t reduce it so much, is not getting thick also 🙁 it has been like 2 hours in the pan, should i stop cooking it and leave it to cool down? SOS!
Hi Paulina, glad we chatted via my instagram account, your pomegranate molasses should have thickened quite a bit by now, as it is cooled – do hope you enjoy it, Ozlem
Hello
Thank you very much for your help
Pomegranate paste can be made in two other ways
If you translate here, Iranians are very famous in cooking:
https://jamejamonline.ir/fa/news/1277319/%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D9%87%DB%8C%D9%87-%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C
Merhaba, many thanks for your kind note – I love the similarities and variations in our cuisines : ) Afiyet olsun, Ozlem