What Exactly is Duck Sauce?

[Randy W]

from the Smithsonianmag

What Exactly is Duck Sauce?

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If you're from the Midwest or Eastern seaboard of the United States, duck sauce is likely an orange jelly-like substance—similar to sweet-and-sour sauce but with a fruitier flavor—that comes in packets with your Chinese takeout. It's typically used for dipping crispy noodles, egg rolls, and other fried foods. For most New Englanders, duck sauce is a brownish, sweet and chunky sauce served on the table in Chinese restaurants. And if you're from someplace like San Diego or a San Francisco Bay Area native, chances are you've never even heard the name.

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Unlike chow mein or General Tso’s Chicken, American inventions that have no place on a traditional Chinese food menu, Peking duck—a crispy skinned, roasted duck flavored with herbs—has been a staple in China for hundreds of years and usually (though not always) comes with a sauce made from wheat flour and soybeans for dipping. Since soybeans aren't native to the United States, there is a theory among some people that when Chinese immigrants first established restaurants targeted to American palates, they created a sweeter, friendlier substitute using apricots (or in New England's case, applesauce and molasses) and for obvious reasons called it duck sauce.