| While the origins of the barbecue probably go back | | | | They line the shelves in the supermarkets and |
| to the Stone Age, the beginnings of the barbecue | | | | gourmet shops and can be brought online as well. |
| sauce are likely to be closer to the times we live in. | | | | The burgeoning packaged food industry today has a |
| Food historians trace the use of barbecue sauce to | | | | vast variety of barbecue sauces, with flavors ranging |
| America in the 1600s, from where it possibly spread | | | | from the molasses flavored Kansas City sauce to the |
| to Europe over the next two centuries. The sauce | | | | ketchup and brown sugar laced Georgia specialty to |
| varied, and still does vary from the watery to a very | | | | the mustard based North Carolina sauce. |
| thick consistency. Today, it is usually applied to meat | | | | While the barbecue sauce is mostly a mixture of |
| after cooking or during the process of grilling. | | | | garlic, herbs, tomatoes, vinegar, and spices in |
| Some sources claim that Christopher Columbus | | | | different proportions, sauces have now moved to |
| brought the sauce back from the Caribbean Islands. | | | | include global flavors. Typical sauces now have added |
| Whatever its origin, the sauce was most likely used | | | | agents like soy sauce and honey to throw up an |
| to mask the gamy flavors in the meats that were | | | | Asian or teriyaki sauce. Other varieties use Jamaican |
| foreign and unpleasant to the colonial settlers in | | | | jerk flavorings to conjure up creations with a |
| America. Several literary texts of the 16th and 17th | | | | Caribbean flavor. |
| centuries refer to the sauce, indicating that it | | | | Today, there are as many varieties and flavors of |
| increased in usage and gained currency in the period. | | | | barbecue sauces as there are cooks. While some |
| The first commercially produced barbecue sauce was | | | | grillers swear by the store bought sauce, others |
| made by the Louis Maull Co. in 1923, but the sauce | | | | prepare the concoctions themselves, in some cases |
| was nationally distributed only almost two decades | | | | holding the recipes as closely-guarded secrets. |
| later, when Heinz released it commercially. | | | | Whatever the ingredients or the methods of |
| From then on, many supermarket chains and regional | | | | preparation, the barbecue sauce remains the one |
| restaurants started to market their own brands of | | | | element that can make or mar the outcome of your |
| barbecue sauce, so much so that regional differences | | | | grilling experience. So whatever may be the food |
| in sauce flavors and preparations were taken into | | | | that you grill, pick your sauce carefully for that |
| account. Barbecue sauces today are big business. | | | | sumptuous meal. |