Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

After over a year of procrastinating, I finally made worcestershire sauce.  I know.  I don't blame you for thinking it.  Why on earth would I want to make something that isn't expensive to buy and is easily available.  My reason is simple.  Generally speaking, homemade anything tastes better than store bought, so I wanted to give it a whirl for my Dad.  He LOVES worcestershire sauce and I can think of no greater gift for him (a November birthday), so that alone is reason enough for me to go to the trouble.  This sauce needs to age, so that means I needed to get my game on NOW!

I first discovered a recipe for worcestershire sauce on a blog that I stumbled upon a long time ago, but I can't find the link.  I'm sorry.  I printed the recipe off and never bookmarked the site.  My bad.  After a bit of googling, I did find a few other recipes and ultimately decided to make this one (as well as the original one that I printed off from that unknown blog) so that I could compare the taste and decide which one was better. After they age, I'll be doing a little taste testing and will report my findings for you.

The original recipe that I printed off from that unknown blog is as follows:

Worcestershire Sauce

2 litres brown vinegar

600ml malt vinegar

(I used all malt vinegar as that's what I had on hand) 

220 grams caster sugar

6 green apples peeled and chopped

60 grams minced fresh garlic

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp peppercorns

25 grams ground ginger

25 grams salt

500 grams treacle

(I bought treacle at the import shop, but suspect you could use fancy molasses in lieu)

1.  Place all ingredients (except the treacle) into a large pot and boil for 2 hours, then strain through a fine sieve.  

2.  Return mixture to the pot, add treacle and return to boil.  Stir for 10 minutes.  

3.  Pour into sterilized jars/bottles and seal.

* I've put mine in freshly washed jars and have placed them in the basement fridge to age. I want to taste test them before I bottle them and seal them for gift giving.

Allow minimum of 3 weeks to age and be sure to shake before use!

Apples taking on the color of the ingredients...

Cooling in preparation to sieve

Look at that rich color!

The leavings of both recipes...  very different in quantity and composition.

The resulting sauce (the recipe posted here by me made considerably more and was much darker in colour than the one I linked to above).

My initial taste test confirms that the sauce on the right is much saltier than the one on the left.  I'm really eager to taste them again after they age...  stay tuned!