Homemade browning sauce – the essential multipurpose pantry staple condiment which is used in a number of Caribbean recipes.
Browning sauce is probably one of the most important ingredients you’ll ever encounter in Caribbean cooking. Seriously, I mean if you’ve ever browsed the pantry of an Islander you’re guaranteed to find a stash of this stuff.
Of course my family were the same, we always had some browning in the pantry, my mother wouldn’t have it any other way. As a young woman, who was reared by both my mother and grandmother, I still to this day like to whip out the browning when cooking some Island food.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the components of this rather rich sauce, When I made my homemade Brown stew chicken and Jamaican beef stew I knew I had to credit it’s richness to this sauce.
The best thing I could have done for myself was start making my own brown sauce from scratch. It’s a zillions times cheaper doing it yourself and very VERY easy to make.
What is exactly is homemade browning sauce?
I’m sure you’re probably wondering what’s so special about browning sauce? I just read your mind, you see it’s traditionally used to create an enriched deep colour hence the name.
Browning creates the most amazing dark brown hue I’ve ever seen in the culinary world, it’s my key ingredient.
When is homemade browning sauce used?
Caribbean people add this is stewed meat, gravy and even extend it to baking the infamous black cake during the festive season.
Browning is essentially charred brown sugar, more noted for it’s strong hue rather than it’s nutritionally value.
Unlike the store brought kind, my recipe is completely unadulterated and free from additives and preservatives.
Please note that the flavour of the sauce is slightly smokey from charring the sugar. The longer you allow the sugar to burn the smokier the flavour and deeper the colour.
I decided to add some himalayan pink salt once liquidised to balance out that smokiness.
Add this one to your gravy, stews or whatever you need to enrich….go on I dare you!
I’ve updated the post with a few progress so you have an idea of what to expect. Again! please DO NOT use cold water as this will ruin the recipe because the sugar will harden and not dissolve.
Notes and tips
- Use hot water to dissolve the sugar NEVER cold.
- Be very careful when adding the hot water as the sugar may splutter
- Store in the refrigerator for several months to over a year once chilled.
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Homemade browning sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of coconut palm sugar
- 1 cup of hot water
- 2 tsp of himalayan pink salt
Instructions
- Add the sugar to a saucepan and turn on medium heat.
- Use a wooden spoon or spatula and begin to slowly stir. The sugar will start to dissolve and turn into a syrup consistency while darkening.
- If the sugars begin to smoke too quickly then reduce the flame or switch off the stove and continue to stir while charring the sugar.
- Once the sugar darkens to a dark brown almost black in colour remove from the stove and carefully add the hot water. The saucepan will yield plenty of steam and splutter which is normal but please be very careful when following this step and add the water slowly - keep on stirring the pan.
- Once the sauce is formed, allow to cool before adding the pink salt and pouring into a sauce bottle.
Life saver !!! I forgot to grab some for my Jamaican oxtail stew. This sauce is the next best thing next to sliced bread. 😂 again thanks
Thank you so much Trina, so glad you were able to make some delicious oxtail stew using my homemade browning.
Hi Charla,
My onion soup came out beautifully. I found it takes a bit more of this than KB but, as you pointed out, it really doesn’t affect the flavor at all. I was a little surprised as the smell and taste on it’s own were quite strong. Word to the wise: optimally this should be done during a time of year that you can ventilate the house a bit. My upstairs still smells a bit like a Kettle Korn factory (that’s not a huge complaint). Thanks again, this is now a staple in my home.
Hi Again Rael. I’m so glad you were able to use it for your onion soup. Yes, you can afford to be a bit heavy handed with this typical browning and it thankfully won’t impact the overall result of the dish. Thanks for pointing out the need for ventilation, I always prepare mine with my fan extract on as I agree the smell is quite pungent.
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a replacement for Kitchen Bouquet for a couple years since my household went organic and non-gmo. I live in the midwest; during a big snow I got a serious yen for onion soup. Got started only to find out that I had no KB. I gave this a shot and now I have enough browning for a year or more! This is much appreciated. Happy Holidays!
Hi Rael. I’m so happy to have helped you! Yes, the browning is multipurpose and lasts for a long long time. I still have mine stocked in the refrigerator for over a year now with no problems. Happy holidays!
Hi Charla, I’ve just tried this recipe with unrefined coconut sugar (as i don’t have palm sugar). Everything was going dainty and nice up till the cooling stage… and then the sugar hardened! With my spoon still stuck in the pot (-_-)”‘ I wonder what I am missing…. How is the sugar supposed to remain in liquid form? Is the proportion of sugar to hot water 2 is to 1?
Hi Kai. Thank you for reaching out to me. Let’s see if we are troubleshoot this together. The ratio of sugar to water is definitely 2:1 but it sounds as if the browning is more of a thick syrup than it is a runny sauce. Are you able to reheat the mixture on the stove and pour some hot water onto it (about 1/4 cup) to get it to melt? If so, try that, if the mixture appears thick it needs to be watered down some more. Stick to adding 1/4 cup of hot water as mentioned to melt the browning into a sauce. If it still seems thick add another 1/4 cup and you should be left with a not so thick sauce as it cools down. I hope that makes sense and feel free to reach out to me again if you are still stuck.
Can ordinary granulated sugar or cane sugar be used in this recipe? Wondering if coconut palm sugar is essential.
Coconut palm sugar is simply used because it is a low GI sugar. Cane sugar will work just fine in place of it.
I made Jamaican Brown Stew with this homemade browning sauce…the best decision EVER! Super easy, simple and healthy. Thanks a lot!
You are more than welcome
Girl thank you. I’m a Jamaican living in Mo it’s hard to get Jamaican product here. Need to make a Easter bun cake acrosss your recipe and made it. Came out perfect. It’s cooling on the stove right now. Will update a photo of the bun when I make it. Thanks a lot for the recipe. I use regular brown sugar.
Happy to have helped Nicola 😉
I’ll preface by disclosing that I’m not Caribbean. My other half is, however, and I’m seeking to learn how to cook the types of meals that he likes. I just want to make sure I did this correctly, because it smells horrid. Is it supposed to smell like a nice smokey flavor or is this extra burnt sugar smell the correct result? I feel like I may need to start over, but this too more like 15 minutes rather than 5.
Hi Nikki. The browning should have a smokey/slightly burnt smell but it definitely shouldn’t be overly strong. You might have over caramelised the sugar and made it burn which is why it smells awful. You can give it another try, once the sugar darkens, that’s when its ready for the next step. Don’t let the sugar go black, just literally past the caramel stage is suffice.
I hope that helps!!
I’ve just moved to China and its Christmas time. I really wanted to make the Jamaican Christmas cake but they don’t sell browning here. Thank you. My cake will come out really good now.
Hi Joleen. I’m glad that I have come to your aid with my browning sauce for you to use in China. Enjoy!
Awesome, the secret ingredient( to getting it close) to the real Branston Pickle recipe
thank you!!
Hi, Charla!
I have a question regarding the browning sauce. I was wondering if it could replace caramel coloring for a copy cat cola recipe?
Thanks
Hi Trevor, yes it should do, I’m not 100% sure if it would yield a very concentrated colour like cola though, maybe off brown and not a deep brown. It’s not something I’ve tried but we do traditionally use browning to colour black cake if that helps.
Where can I buy the Browning source in the UK, need it for baking.
Caribbean grocery store
Made this sauce today to try my hand at Caribbean black cake for a friend’s birthday treat. Took about an hour total time at the stove and since I’ve never used browning before I’m hoping it turned out well but it’s a lovely dark color and smooth consistency.
Hi Elsie. Based on your description sounds like the browning sauce turned out well.