Homemade Barbecue Sauce

I made this today. Perhaps my family is getting sick of the homemade things. The other day (if you are my friend on facebook, you saw this as my status) I was making homemade mac & cheese, and Emma almost started crying and said "why are you making everything homemade now?" I told her it was because it was healthier. She said "I think the stuff in the blue box is healthier." That's why I was so surprised that she liked last night's supper, because it was a homemade substitute for something she really likes. Anyway in our quest to be healthier, I know we have a LONG way to go. We are just doing baby steps. Maybe even slower. But one thing we have tried to eliminate is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is in soooo many things. Have you seen King Corn? It will make you not want to consume it either. They have it on Netflix, Watch Instantly. Watch it, along with Food Inc, and you will be horrified, disheartened, and disgusted. Anyway. All the barbecue sauce I have seen in the stores has HFCS. Probably now that there is this campaign against it, there will be some without it, that blaze on their labels NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. But there will still be other bad things in it. Oh and did you hear that food manufacturers want to change the name of HFCS to corn sugar? That is a trick to make you think it's from a thing that grows in the ground so it's probably okay. This is a trick I am familiar with. I use it to convince myself that potatoes are healthy and that pickles are a vegetable. I tried to tell my mom this when I was growing up. She never believed it, but I still kind of do. So anyway. This recipe for homemade barbecue sauce is the last recipe I have marked to try from the Farmhouse Cookbook. Even though I wasn't crazy about the recipes in this one, it was a good read, because it was all about her field trips to farms and such. So in a few years it will be fun to read again. This sauce is from a farmer in Arkansas, one who is a barbecue expert. According to who, I don't know. The American BBQ Panel, perhaps. It still starts with store-bought ketchup. I don't have a food processor. And I hate peeling tomatoes, that's really hard. So I bought "Simply Heinz" which has only natural ingredients, according to them. So I think it's a pretty good base, then we are keeping the texture that the fam is familiar with. Can't change too many things at once or the natives rebel. You may have experienced this in your own family.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce
2 cups good-quality ketchup
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp molasses
Several drops Tabasco sauce, or to taste (I did like 3 drops)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp dry mustard, mixed to a paste with 2 tsp cold water
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, trimmed and minced (optional)(I left it out)
3/4 cup minced fresh pineapple, or rinsed and drained canned pineapple (I left this out too...don't want chunks in my barbecue sauce)

Mix all ingredients except pineapple in medium sized bowl, making sure they are thoroughly combined. Then stir in the pineapple and adjust the seasoning to taste (they helpfully suggest that you just keep licking your fingers until you like it...). Use immediately or ladel into hot sterilized canning jars and seal according to lid manufacturer's instructions. Or do what I did, and put it in Tupperware and put it in your fridge. I don't think it will go bad any sooner than ketchup, but I don't know, we'll see.

I haven't actually tried this yet, but it does smell good. It seems more watery than store-bought sauce, maybe because of the vinegar and worcestershire sauce. I think the tomato paste was meant to thicken it up, but it didn't for me. Maybe if you add more...Also I was on the phone with my mom at the time I was making this and she suggested that I heat it up, to steam off some of the liquid and make it thicker. She is so smart. So I did that. It did help some. Stay tuned, I will try to remember to post if we liked this or not after we eat it.