Homemade Maple Worcestershire Sauce Tutorial

Worcestershire sauce has become one of those "must have" condiments people keep in their pantry. I don't think I know a single person in America who doesn't like it. However, there are a few vegans out there who would love to see it made without any anchovy. There are a lot of moms who care if their kids have high fructose corn syrup or anything close. So, today I wanted to show the process I use to make homemade Worcestershire sauce. It's actually quite simple and it makes about half a gallon of sauce. So, I make a large batch. It will last several months easily. On the down side, it does have a very distinct odor, and therefore is one of those things that it's probably good I only make once in a long stretch. The smell in the house is rather...pungent. Similar to the smell I get on Sweet and Hot Corn Relish Day. I'm just saying...if I didn't like the stuff so much, I'd probably just buy the jars from the store.

Chef Tess Homemade Maple Worcestershire Sauce

6 oz peeled chopped horseradish root (or one 4 oz jar prepared horseradish--no mayo!)

2 medium red onions

1/4 cup minced garlic

1/4 cup minced jalapeno

2T crushed black pepper

3 cups water

4 cups sweet balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup molasses

2 cups maple syrup

12 whole cloves

2T sea salt

zest of one lemon

3 juniper berries, crushed

I employ a very elite labor force.

Red onions are my favorite in this. I love how sweet they are. You can however use white onions.

I do keep the seeds with the jalapeno...the added heat makes for a very nice sauce later.
Yes...the seed is where a great amount of the heat is found in a chile pepper.

My favorite part of the sauce is adding the crushed juniper berries. These are ones we picked in the mountains by our cabin. You mean I put Baby Pine Cones in my dinner? Yes...and more.
I add some cloves as well.

Combine all the ingredients in a large one gallon pot and simmer one hour on low heat. It seems like it should be harder to make Worcestershire sauce huh?

I use a fine cotton cloth to strain the sauce placed over another strainer.

Pour the sauce into the strainer.

Drain. It takes about 20 minutes to strain.

If one is not careful, it would be easy to get impatient and squeeze that bag...perhaps losing a few juniper berries into the strainer. Thus...the second strainer. I may have been a little bit overzealous in my mesh squeezing.

The sauce will look like this:

Transfer to pint jars. This recipe yields 4 pints or two quarts. Feel free to make more or less as needed. Put sealed jars in a boiling water bath caner and process 10 minutes. Allow to cool on a kitchen towel lined counter top for 12 hours. Sauce is best after one month or longer to mature. I've seen it done where the sauce is put in a wooden barrel and aged like wine. I don't do that...I don't have the right facility. I suppose it could be done that way though...if you want to get all technical-fancy. I just know, even like it is...it's a pretty tasty sauce.

There you go. Make some Worcestershire sauce.