How is it that mixing standard supermarket honey and traditional barbecue sauce results in a sauce that is thinner than either of the inputs?

Question

Both of those products are pretty thick/sticky by themselves but together create something that behaves much more ‘watery’.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

As u/pulpinator pointed out, it’s probably due to you basically diluting one in the other. Assuming your statement to be true:

The sugars are further apart from each other so the honey/sauce combo gets thinner or less viscous than either component on their own. If both honey and bbq sauce have different sugars in different ratios, putting together in one delicious honey bbq sauce changes how those sugars organize and see each other.

My reasoning:
Relevant plot from RG. At high concentration, sucrose has highest relative viscosity followed by glucose then fructose (and honey). Since both products have different sugars, you effectively dilute them to some extent in the combo sauce, thereby lowering the viscosity.
https://images.app.goo.gl/VRUYAFTaaus1UfEo6