Spicy Peach Barbecue Sauce
Peach season is upon us and I’ll be dishing out some really good, tried and true recipes I love to use my peach hauls for! Today is a favorite to dump over pork or chicken and grill or slow cook or smoke to perfection! Sweet, spicy, and sour… all the things I’m looking for in a vinegar based barbecue sauce. This recipe makes approximately 6 half pint jars.
Ingredients:
3 pounds peaches, peeled if desired, pits removed and sliced into quarters
1 large bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 large onion, peeled & chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup sugar (+ more, adjusted to taste after cooking)
1 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce
2 tsps red pepper flakes (adjust for your spice tolerance, add cayenne if you want to catch on fire while eating it)
2 tsps mustard powder
2 tsps salt
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a large stainless steel saucepan, cover and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer until all ingredients are softened.
Blend with an immersion blender or transfer to your blending appliance of choice, blending until smooth.
Bring sauce back to a simmer, and simmer til thickened, stirring frequently or it will burn/stick to the bottom of your pan. Promise. This takes about 20 minutes for me.
TASTE THE SAUCE. Adjust seasonings and sugar content as needed.
Notes & Variations:
Substitute sugar with maple syrup or coconut sugar. I don’t recommend honey because I really don’t like it in barbecue sauces. If it’s your thing, by all means, do that! You can use WHATEVER sweetener floats your boat and works with your dietary requirements and nutritional standards. You can also omit a sweetener entirely!
Simmer the barbecue sauce with a couple fresh sprigs of rosemary and then remove prior to canning. So good! I didn’t use it here because I don’t have any :D DO NOT use sage. It doesn’t can well.
I’m considering subbing out some apple cider vinegar for balsamic vinegar in subsequent batches, maybe 1/4 cup. Balsamic & peaches are a match made in heaven to my taste buds!
You can add in spicy peppers to this recipe as well to your preference. 1-2 fresh spicy peppers, like cayennes or spicier if you’re nuts, hacked up and blended in would be good as well and you could omit the dry red pepper flakes.
Canning:
APPROVED PROCESS: ladle hot sauce into clean half pint jars to 1/2” headspace. Wipe rims and add lids and bands. Steam or waterbath can for 15 minutes, adjusting time for elevation as needed.
REBEL PROCESS/OPEN KETTLE CANNING METHOD: working one at a time, ladle hot sauce into hot, sterilized jars to 1/2” headspace. Wipe rim with vinegar soaked HOT cloth, add hot lids and bands, and set aside to seal. It is important to work one jar at a time to ensure ingredients and jars and lids are HOT to get best seal rate. This process in an old school canning process that is no longer approved, but is used by lots of canning folks, myself included. Do some research here and decide what you are comfortable with doing. Just because I do it doesn’t mean you have to. I’m simply sharing what I did.
Shelf life:
Til you eat it.
Current recommendations are to use within 2 years, most lids are guaranteed for 18 months. Best nutritional and flavor is peak at 2 years. Try and use and rotate your stock within this time but it will keep and store well past that.
