BBQ Sauce

When we bought our home in the fall of 2020, we [obviously] knew we had several trees in our front yard. What we didn’t know, was that one of them is a Cherry Tree!

Cherry Tree

What a surprise! We started by not believing they would be edible, to watching them fall from the tree as unripened fruit. That concerned us, a bit, until we learned that cherry trees will regularly drop 30% of their unripened fruit to concentrate on the remaining. Yeah, Mother Nature.

We’re still not sure what variety it is, but our across the street neighbor with the same tree said it is definitely not a Rainier Cherry – and we’re both experiencing a bumper crop. Yeah, Mother Nature, again.

Regardless of the variety – they are good!

Today, I decided it was time to start doing things with them – there are just sooooo many! First order of business – Barbecue Sauce. It’s officially grilling season here in the Pacific Northwest and I do love our new gas grill…

Plus… I just bought a new cherry pitter. I’ve had a hand-held pitter for 25 years or so – and it’s been great for doing enough cherries for a pie – but we’re talking a whole tree, here! Time to up the game.

It worked great.

Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 cups pitted cherries
  • 1 cup tomato sauce
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 3 tbsp molasses
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 (or more) chipotle chilis in adobo
  • 2 tsp dry ground mustard
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • Salt & pepper, to taste

Method:

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a medium-sized saucepan and cook the onions and garlic until soft and translucent.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, blend until reasonably smooth and continue simmering another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.

Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth.

Bottle and refrigerate.

BBQ Sauce

I don’t have the proper caps for canning, right now, so it’s definitely keep refrigerated. If you want, you can do a boiling water process for 15 minutes.

It’s going to be fun to see what else we can come up with!