Sweet and sour ribs are one of those iconic dishes that don’t have a definitive origin story. Several regions across China claim to have the original recipe, including Henan in central China, Jiangsu in the northeast, and Guangdong in the south. In all cases, these provinces feature a sweet and sour dipping sauce made from vinegar and sugar. However, it is the Cantonese origins that most closely resemble what we know as sweet and sour ribs.
Guangdong and Hong Kong, in the Canton region, housed one of the largest and busiest ports in China. This facilitated the influx of foreign products, such as tomatoes, pineapples, and bell peppers used in sweet and sour pork.
The basic sweet and sour ribs consist of fried pork pieces mixed with onions, green peppers, and pineapples, all coated in a sweet and sour sauce.
Historical records from 1800s Canton indicate that chefs used hawthorn berries and preserved plums to color the vinegar and sugar sauce. Later, chefs in Hong Kong incorporated ketchup and Worcestershire sauces into the mixture. It’s important to note that the origins of ketchup and Worcestershire sauces based on anchovies trace back to ancient China.
The dish gained popularity in China and subsequently became global when the first wave of Chinese immigrants crossed the Pacific to California to build the railroads during the California Gold Rush in the late 19th century.
Decades later, the dish spread even further worldwide during World War II, with Americans and Europeans savoring it. Today, you can find sweet and sour ribs practically anywhere, whether in the worldwide sweetened version or the classic Chinese creation.
