Carolina barbeque sauce is Carolina's gift to the US

Most Americans may not be aware of it but there is a lot of history behind the origin of Carolina barbecue sauce. In fact, of the four true barbecue sauces — Vinegar and Pepper, Mustard, Light Tomato and Heavy Tomato - North Carolina is the home of three while South Carolina is the home of all four. That is why when the common American talks of barbecue sauce he talks of Carolina barbecue sauce.

The first and simplest of the barbeque sauces is Vinegar and Pepper. No one knows when it was first made but even today it is eaten with relish on the coastal plains of both North and South Carolina. The second is the mustard sauce. It is a distinct contribution of South Carolina and has come to be identified as the true South Carolina sauce.

The credit for making this sauce goes to the German settlers who pitched their tents in this part of the US in the 18th century. Even today the Carolina mustard sauce is associated with these families. The most prominent among these is the Bessinger family. The others are Shealy, Hite, Sweatman, Sikes, Price, Lever, Meyer, Kiser, and Zeigler.

The Light Tomato sauce was the next barbecue sauce that North and South Carolina came up with. This was a simple sauce that was prepared by adding Vinegar and Pepper to tomato ketchup. It was first prepared around the 1900s, and became a favorite of those who wanted a tinge of the sweet in their sauce.

The fourth sauce to come out of Carolina is the Heavy Tomato sauce. This sauce is hardly half a century old but has been accepted with gusto by the whole of the US. It is available in all supermarkets under brand names like Kraft Foods and Kansas City Masterpiece. The Americans love this sauce and lather it richly on all barbecued food.