Well, I had made pomegranate molasses/syrup a few weeks ago and I was pretty happy with myself. There were two pomegranates in our refrigerator and they had been lying there for a long long time. They weren’t good enough to eat but I could still juice them and make some molasses out of them. So, I did! You can follow the same steps as making sugarcane molasses to make pomegranate molasses. They yielded 36 grams of pomegranate molasses. 

You can also buy pomegranate molasses from a store near your house if they keep such things. I made mine at home because a) I was curious, b) things like pomegranate molasses aren’t available where I stay and c) I had two very old pomegranates lying in my refrigerator. But I am sure buying it will be cheaper and less time consuming… I am just guessing. 

The ingredients are as follows:

• 2 cups of popped corns.
• 3-5 tbsp butter.
• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 tbsp onion powder.
• 36 g or 2-3 tbsp pomegranate molasses.
• salt to taste.

You can start right off with popped corn but as usual I start with corn kernels and that too, on the cob. Don’t you think they make a good picture with their neat rows of corns?

Anyway, so I was being overconfident as usual and I assumed that I was born with the ability to pop the perfect popcorn. So, I put in all the corn kernels in a deep pan and put the pan on top of a gas stove. I thought I knew how to pop corns since we used to make it at home when I was small (it’s been quite a while since we made popcorns at home). It turned out that it wasn’t me who knew how to pop corns but my parents! Disaster struck and my corns didn’t pop properly. I got more “cracked” corns than popped corns. And most of them were burnt! I had put the lid on the whole time and was waiting for the popping sound to stop. But when they did, I opened the lid and found “failure” staring straight back at me. 

Okay, it was time to rush back to my computer to research some popcorn science! The easiest way to pop corns would be to microwave them but I had vowed to stop using a microwave oven and had not used it for almost a year now. I didn’t want to give in for some popcorns! So, I decided to go with the good old stove top method… which, I had earlier believed, I was following. 

The proper way is to melt some butter in a pan or pot.

And when the butter has melted, add one or two corns to check if it is heated enough. When the corns start to pop, it is ready and you can add more corn kernels to it. Make sure you do not overcrowd the corns as it might result in some corns only cracking and not popping. The corns need space to pop. The lid should have an opening to allow moisture to pass out. This allows the corns to be fluffy and not too chewy. If the lid doesn’t have an opening, keep it ajar. 

Now I finally have some gorgeous looking popcorns!

Mix the pomegranate molasses, olive oil, onion powder and salt together.

Pour it on the popcorns…

… and mix them well so that the popcorns are uniformly coated with the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 121 degrees celsius and bake the coated popcorns for 9 minutes. 

This uniquely flavoured popcorns are so unique that no one has been able to guess what its sweet-savoury-sour flavour is. It’s a must try!

P.S. And someone did try it out.

See the popcorns here.