Just about any fruit can be used to make a great fruit barbeque sauce
When deciding how to make a barbeque sauce for your next backyard barbeque, keep fruit barbeque sauce in mind. Fruit is an excellent base ingredient for barbeque sauce. All barbeque sauces have some sweet followed by a degree of heat and spiciness. What could be better for the sweet than fruit?
The wide variations that are found in fruit also offer an endless array of flavors. Oranges, for instance are on the opposite end of the flavor spectrum than that of apples, yet both would make an excellent barbeque sauce. Keep in mind the sweet factor when conjuring up a sauce. The previously mentioned apple will not be as sweet as an orange. This doesn’t mean the orange can’t be used because you’ve envisioned a less sweet sauce, nor does the apple have to be ruled out due to the lack of sweetness. It just means you’ll have to adjust your other ingredients to compensate. Extra vinegar, for instance will tone down sweet, while added sugar will sweeten the less sweet fruit varieties.
Of course fresh fruit can’t be beat as far as flavor is concerned, but if the fruit you wish to work with is out of season, frozen or canned will work. Jellies, jams, or pie fillings are also excellent options.
An example of a basic fruit barbeque sauce would be a jar of jelly, apple cider vinegar and hot sauce. In a sauce pan, add the jelly, a quarter of the jelly jar of vinegar and simmer until the jelly dissolves. Add the hot sauce per your personal preference. Perform a taste test and adjust the vinegar and hot sauce until you find the right balance of flavor, consistency and spiciness.
Although the above example is simplistic in design, you’ll eventually branch out to more involved recipes that will reward you with complex flavors. Garlic, molasses, salt and paprika are common ingredients in barbeque sauces. Just about anything in your cupboard or pantry is fair game. Try to envision the final flavors your sauce is trying to achieve, then hit the kitchen and make it happen.
Experimentation is key. You will end up with rubbish from time to time, but as your skills in sauce making improve, it will be less likely. Keep a log of your sauce making. Notes are essential. How can you make it better next time? What did you like or dislike about this particular sauce? Eventually you’ll end up with a nice little portfolio of sauce recipes.
One final note on a fruit barbeque sauce is they have a high concentration of sugar. They will burn easily over an open fire. Apply to the food only during the last five to ten minutes of grilling, depending on how hot your fire is. For added flavor, mix a small portion of your sauce with an equal amount of apple cider vinegar and use it as a basting sauce. Baste your food three or four times during the cooking process. You can then lather on your sauce creation and get ready to enjoy the “fruits” of your labor.
© 2016 Gary Glen | Photo A Gude, “Fruit Bowls from the Back” August 17, 2008 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution | All rights reserved
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