Sugar’s role in barbecue sauce

Summer is upon us, and that signals the height of the barbecue season. Before we fire up the grill and get to work making the barbecue (BBQ) sauce, we wanted to dive a bit deeper into sugar’s functional role in barbecue sauces and marinades and how different syrups and sugars can enhance flavour, appearance and mouthfeel.

Sugar is an important functional ingredient in barbecue sauces and marinades as it serves to balance out flavours that would otherwise be too tangy, spicy, sour or smoky. Sugar can intensify the colour and flavour of these sauces and marinades, and add moisture and enhance appearance and mouthfeel.

When barbecue sauce is cooked onto meat, the sugar in the sauce caramelises and seals in the meat’s moisture. This brings out the smoky flavour and juicy texture that people so often want from barbecued food. The Maillard reaction, a chemical process, also occurs, allowing the meat to take on a browner, caramelised colour that makes it more visually appealing to the eater. Less fatty cuts of meat are prone to drying out while on the grill, so regularly basting with a sauce or marinade towards the end of cooking will help prevent this and improve the overall eating experience.

Some sugar products, however, are better than others in achieving all this. So what sugars are best in barbecue sauce?

Syrups like cane molasses and black treacle and crystalline sugars like muscovado are all ideal in barbecue sauces and marinades, and recipes for barbecued grilled meats and/or vegetables may list one or more of these as ingredients. This is because they will not overpower the other flavours but will instead combine with spicy, tangy, smoky, sour or even fruity flavours to create a more complex, balanced flavour profile.   

Many barbecue sauces, marinades and glazes contain molasses, treacle or muscovado sugar supplied by Ragus. Equally popular at barbecues is the condiment tomato ketchup. This is sometimes made with golden syrup, which Ragus also supplies. As an ingredient, golden syrup will not affect the desired smooth texture of ketchup, but instead balance out the acidity of the tomatoes, vinegar and any spices used in the recipe.

In this article, we explain what molasses, treacle and muscovado sugar are and how each can affect the final sauce or marinade.

Cane molasses is dark in colour, has a bittersweet taste and high viscosity. This thick syrup is obtained during the sugar refining process. Juice is extracted from crushing the sugarcane and this juice is boiled to produce a syrup. After further boiling, a thicker brown liquid is created, which is the raw molasses. The raw molasses must undergo further refining for it to be suitable for food production, and the manufacturing process can be tweaked depending on the desired final product. Find out more about cane molasses and how it is made.

Cane molasses is ideal for use in sauces and marinades for chicken wings or pork ribs, or any product where stickiness and understated sweetness are required. Cane molasses, though sweet, is robust in flavour and so adds a gooey quality and more intense colour to the meat. It will give a dipping sauce or marinade a silky consistency, making it easier to glaze or pour over meat. It can also help to tenderise the meat.

Black treacle has a more rounded, liquorice-like flavour compared to cane molasses, though it is also bittersweet in taste and dark in colour. It can largely be used interchangeably with cane molasses in barbecue sauces and marinades, though black treacle is more of a natural humectant than cane molasses and is particularly effective at keeping the meat moist during cooking and juicy for eating. It also enhances mouthfeel.  

Both cane molasses and black treacle are used for flavouring, sweetening and colouring, so many food products like gingerbread, toffee, fruit cakes, confectionery, biscuits and Christmas pudding in addition to sweet and savoury sauces may use one of these syrups.

Black treacle is made by blending molasses with an invert sugar syrup called refiners syrup. The treacle is essentially the syrup that is left behind after boiling raw sugar and adding invert sugar syrup. Though it has some of the same characteristics as cane molasses, black treacle and cane molasses are not the same. Find out how black treacle is made in more detail.

Muscovado sugar for a more complex flavour

Muscovado sugar, in particular dark cane muscovado sugar, has molasses-toffee notes that can transform any barbecue sauce into something more earthy and complex in both colour and flavour. Adding a little muscovado sugar to a barbecue sauce or marinade does not make it sweet. Instead, it will intensify the smoky flavour and complement other spicy, sour, tangy or pungent flavours that come from adding ingredients such as vinegar, garlic, mustard or chillies to a sauce or marinade.

As muscovado sugar is only partially refined, the final product retains some natural molasses. The fine crystals have a weight to them, and the texture is soft and moist, meaning that muscovado can still be used even if a smooth textured sauce or marinade is required. Muscovado can also withstand higher cooking temperatures, making it ideal in any coating for meat on a grill.

Muscovado is made by evaporating the liquid from sugarcane juice. The amber juice is seeded with sugar crystals and, later, the crystals are separated from the liquid. Find out how muscovado sugar is made in more detail.

Demand for commercial sauces and marinades is growing, especially with the rising popularity of barbecued and grilled food. There is also growing demand for organic and clean label products from consumers who seek out healthier options. Consumers want to recognise what ingredients are in a product like a bought marinade or sauce.

For clean label consumers, it is also important that a product has fewer ingredients. The addition of cane molasses, black treacle or muscovado sugar in a sauce or marinade may mean that fewer other ingredients are needed to create the complex flavour that consumers desire. At the same time, sugars like muscovado provide some nutritional value due to their molasses content.

Barbecue sauces can vary in flavour, ranging from sweeter to more smoky or tangy. The syrups and sugars we’ve noted in this article can each enhance barbecue sauces and marinades in interesting ways – ideal for today’s consumer.

Ragus manufactures a range of pure sugars and syrups for use in the production of sauces, marinades and many other foods and beverages. To learn more, contact our Customer Services Team. For more sugar news and updates, continue browsing SUGARTALK and follow Ragus on LinkedIn.