Spanish balsamic
balsamic Vinegar
is a traditional heavy flavoured vinegar usually used
in Italian gourmet cooking. It is frequently used as a salad
vinaigrette when combined with oil or as a marinade. It
is a traditional import originating in Modena, Italy,
where it has been Made since the Middle Ages and the
name is protected by the Italian government. Unlike
table vinegars, it is dark and viscous with a complex,
sweet flavor and is much more expensive. True Balsamico
vinegar has been aged in casks 15 years or more.
The best balsamic vinegars
have no other ingredients added to them - only
the grapes. Lesser ones will include brown sugar or caramel
to model the sweetness of the true balsamico. If a company
makes a "traditional" balsamico vinegar,
they will also make a less expensive, but quality
vinegar as well.
View
our free Gourmet Balsamic vinaigrette Recipes.
Oil and vinegar Balsamic Salad dressings.
Balsamic vinegar is Produced
by concentrated white grapes (typically,
trebbiano grapes) that has been boiled down to about
50% ("must") and fermenting that into alcohol.
It is then once again fermented to balsamico vinegar,
with a slow aging process
done in oak casks that concentrates
the flavours. The flavour is magnified over years,
with the aged balsamic vinegar being kept in fine oak barrels, becoming
sweet, syrupy and very concentrated in flavour. Some
older balsamico vinegar is added to the "must"
to make a more complex and intricate taste, and to
add acidity.
The syrup is transferred
to oak casks to ferment in the open
air and then starts the long evaporation and aging process
that makes aged balsamic vinegar unusual. Balsamic vinegar
does not degenerate after opening as oxygen is part
of the aging process, you can cherish your best bottle
and use it on special entrees. Do
not heat or cook balsamic vinegar
as it will ruin the taste.
As a key component
in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic goes
particularly well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic
vinaigrette is great with lobster,
artichokes and asparagus. A balsamic dressing does well
with winter veggies such as carrots, turnips, squash
and sweet potatoes, as well as fresh mixed greens or
baby spinach.
The Mediterranean diet,
characterized by cuisine such as Italian food, has been
gaining popularity in North America, where the consumption
of traditional Mediterranean foods, such as cold pressed
olive oil and balsamic vinegar, has been increasing.
Many people are finding this diet as a healthy alternative
to fatty foods and deep fried food preparation.
