History of BBQ Sauce
The Origins
Barbecue sauce has made its way through the native tribes of South America, early settlers in Colonial North America, and to a super market near you!
A Dominican missionary by the name of Père Labat visited the French West Indies in 1698 and saw how locals cooked their pork using lime juice and spicy peppers. Lebat wrote down his findings in a journal. However, in the British colonies in North America limes and peppers were not as abundant so vinegar was used as the main component of a barbecue sauce or marinade. This first BBQ sauce was very primitive as it contained just vinegar and peppers.
The next phase of BBQ sauce occurred in the Carolinas where German immigrants brought mustard seeds. The addition of mustard to the vinegar and pepper sauce took place in the 1750s. This type of mustard sauce is what is now thought of as Carolina Gold. Another Carolina invention was the light tomato based BBQ sauce. The addition of tomatoes gave the vinegar sauce a slight sweetness. This was created in the early 1900’s as ketchup had just been created. The final main iteration of BBQ sauce took place in the last half century. The thick tomato sauce that many think of as traditional was popularized by Kraft-Heinz. This style is much sweeter and contains large amount of sugar.
Regardless of which type of BBQ sauce that you enjoy it is hard to not find the history of BBQ Sauce fascinating. BBQ sauce has spread from its roots as a pork marinade to be put on our favorite food at Windy City Wingman, the chicken wing. These BBQ wings can come in a variety of styles but generally they very sweet and reminiscent of a Kansas City Sauce. BBQ wings were originally my favorite style and to this day never disappoint.
