Gloria’s Home-made BBQ Sauce

 The great thing about blogging is that we can share what we have written for someone else copyright permiting.  However, I do like to get something online at least once a week.  I wrote this article for my friend Teri’s site.  She has generously let me recycle the entry here. Check out her links:  http://www.yeastynow.blogspot.com/ http://www.boomthis.com/

 http://www.boomthis.blogspot.com/

Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, we live in an apartment building where we are not allowed to use a gas BBQ.  It is considered a fire hazard if it is stored on a balcony.  However that does not stop me from making my own sauce to BBQ ribs in the oven.   

I usually make a small batch of barbecue sauce and will give it away as a hostess gift. I don’t always use a recipe.  Sometimes I will get a basic sauce cooking and add whatever is on hand.  I might use a fresh hot pepper like a jalapeno finally diced, commercial mustard, ketchup, maple syrup as a sweetener, or add beer to the recipe as part of the liquid. It is fun to experiment and see what works for you.   The following recipe will make two pints and is the perfect sauce to complement all types of ribs.

1 medium onion chopped

4 cups of apple cider

½ cup of cider vinegar

½ cup of brown sugar

1 tbsp of whole mustard seed

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

 2 12 ounce bottles of chili sauce * I use my own home-made

Hot pepper sauce to taste

Bring all of the ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan.  Reduce your heat and let it simmer until it has thickened and that the volume looks to be half of what you started with.  Pour the hot sauce into two pints jars, seal with two sterilized lids.  I put the jars into a   water- bath and process it for 10 minutes.  Remove with tongs and cool.

It is a good idea to put a label onto the jar and write what is inside and also put the date.  It looks great like this as a gift.  However, I like to decorate my jars.  If I am in a fabric store I always keep an eye open for decorative fabrics whose theme fits in with what I have made.  I use cotton, a fruit theme for jam, Christmas patterns for the Holidays, and for BBQ sauce I have fabrics with vegetables and hot peppers etc.

To decorate specifically one jar of sauce:

Using pinking shears cut 1 six-inch square of fabric.  Center the fabric on the jar lid.  Slip an elastic band over the fabric, gathering in around the rim. Take a 12 inch piece of ribbon that is ¼ inch wide and tie it around each jar lid.    I like to add a basting brush as part of the gift.  Take the ribbon streamers and tie the basting brush tightly to the jar and finish it off by tying the remaining ribbon into a bow.

Tip:  Re-cycle your Xmas candy canes and add those to the sauce instead of any other sweetener.