I like barbecue sauces. My biggest issue with them, however, is the slew of mystery ingredients and amount of sugar in the majority of them, so I decided to examine one that I had used in the past.
Well, that was a bit scary.
Sugar was the main ingredient, along with hearty helpings of both fancy and blackstrap molasses, and corn syrup. I’m also a bit at a loss as to what hydrolyzed soya protein and xanthan gum are doing in my barbecue sauce.
As it turns out, hydrolyzed soya protein is a flavour enhancer, much like MSG, and those who are sensitive to MSG should avoid this due to the high level of glutamates it contains.
Xanthan gum is basically fermented sugar, which is used as a food thickener, or laxative. Yup. That’s right – it’s a laxative. Well, among other uses. It’s also in toothpaste. And some pills. And is used as a saliva substitute.
So, I’ve decided to make my own sauce. It used tomato paste, molasses, white wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, lime juice, dried mustard, cumin, garlic powder, and paprika.
I thought I had crushed tomatoes, but they were diced. Not to worry! I threw the tomatoes into my food processor along with two cloves of garlic.
Once that was puréed, I added two teaspoons each of garlic powder, cumin, and paprika, and one teaspoon of dried mustard.
I mixed this together, then added a teaspoon of lime juice, and a quarter cup of both molasses and white wine vinegar. Mix together, and that’s it!
Use this however you would use barbecue sauce.
Epistrophies. 
yum yum yum! That looks amazing!
And as weird as it sounds, xanthan gum can be a saviour for me, because it means they used something other than flour to thicken my food 😉 But all the chemicals are definitely no bueno! We’re also looking to move towards homemade salad dressings and sauces. I’m gonna have to try this!
I did see that it can be used as a substitute for gluten. I just got stuck on the whole laxitive thing…
The sauce was pretty good on ribs. I think we’ll be trying some different salad dressing recipes out in the near future ourselves. Let me know if you find any gems!