The best aged balsamic vinegars have no other ingredients added to them - only the trebbiano grapes. Lesser common vinegars will add brown sugar or caramel to feign the sweetness of the authentic balsamic vinegars. If a company creates a "traditional" balsamic vinegar, they will also develop a less expensive, but quality vinegar as well.

View our free Gourmet Balsamic Recipes.
Oil and vinegar Balsamic Salad dressings.

Balsamic vinegar is Created by reduced white grapes (typically, trebbiano grapes) that has been boiled down to approximately 50% ("must") and fermenting that into alcohol. It is then once again fermented to balsamico vinegar, with a slow aging procedure done in wood barrels that concentrates the flavors. The flavour is magnified over decades, with the vinegar being kept in fine wood barrels, becoming sweet, syrupy and very concentrated in flavour. Some aged balsamic 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 dehydration and aging process that makes aged balsamico vinegar unusual. Balsamic vinegar does not deteriorate after opening as oxygen is part of the aging process, you can appreciate your finest bottle and use it on special occasions. Do not overheat or cook balsamic vinegar as it will ruin the flavor.

As a key ingredient in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic goes very well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic vinaigrette is outstanding with lobster, spinach and asparagus. A balsamic salad dressing does well with winter veggies such as carrots, turnips, squash and sweet potatoes, as well as spring 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.

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