Fruit Based Barbecue Sauces

Most people think of barbecue sauce as something you buy in the grocery store, which is thick, smoky, and made from tomatoes. Some have strong flavors and frequently overpower the taste of grilled and smoked meats. I however, have a theory that this kind of sauce was invented to mask grilling mistakes. Burnt and overcooked meats are often thought to be salvaged by drowning them in this thick stuff.

Of course this leads to a problem in itself. Sauces made with sugars burn quickly and can cause more damage to the flavor of foods than they add. This is why it is important to add most barbecue sauces at the very end of grilling or after you've removed everything from the grill. This is particularly true of fruit based barbecue sauces.

A barbecue sauce can be made of almost anything. Fruit based sauces add a sweet, fruity flavor that can really enhance the flavors of meats. After all a tomato is a fruit. Really it is. Fruit based sauces are easy to prepare and give such a unique flavor that you can really impress your guests with them. Remember though, to use them sparingly during grilling and apply a good coat right before you remove what you are cooking from the grill. One great way to add flavor while you are grilling is to take your sauce and water it down to a runny solution. Lightly brush this baste over meats while cooking. Then apply the thick sauce at the very end. This reduces the burning and adds moisture to meats.

A fruit based barbecue sauce can be very simple. A thickened solution of fruit juice or fruit preserves work great. I like to mix up the flavors so I'll take fruit and mix it with other seasonings to make a more complex flavor. A great recipe is to take virtually any fruit preserve (jellies or jams) and add hot sauce or hot chili peppers. This gives you a great sweet and spicy flavor. Things you don't normally think would go together can make a great barbecue sauce. How about apricots and garlic? Simply adding fruit to traditional sauces helps make them much better. How about an Apple Barbecue Sauce

There are of course a number of great fruit based sauces on the market and you can generally find them in specialty stores or if you look a little harder. Fischer and Wieser make a Raspberry Chipotle sauce that I personally love. I use it on all kinds of things, especially pork chops.

Whether you buy them or make them yourself, try a good fruit based barbecue sauce next time you are in the mood for something different. You just might give up on those plastic bottled tomato sauces forever.