aceto balsamico
balsamico Vinegar
is a traditional thick flavoured vinegar usually used
in Tuscan cooking. It is often used as a salad
dressing when combined with olive oil or as a marinade. It
is a traditional food product developed in Modena, Italy,
where it has been Created since the Middle Ages and the
brand is protected by the Italian government. Unlike
common vinegars, it is very dark and heavy with a complex,
sweet taste and is much more expensive. True Balsamic
vinegar has been aged 15 years or more.
The primo balsamico vinegars
have no other ingredients added to them - only
the grapes. Lesser vinegars will add brown sugar or caramel
to simulate the sweetness of the 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 Balsamic Recipes.
Oil and vinegar Balsamic Salad dressings.
Balsamic vinegar is Made
by reduced 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 wood barrels that concentrates
the flavors. The flavour is deepened over years,
with the balsamic vinegar being kept in fine oak barrels, becoming
sweet, syrupy and very concentrated in flavor. Some
older balsamic vinegar is added to the "must"
to create 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 begins the long dehydration and aging process
that makes aged balsamic vinegar unique. Balsamic vinegar
does not deteriorate after opening as oxygen is part
of the aging process, you can appreciate your best bottle
and use it on special entrees. Do
not heat or cook balsamic vinegar
as it will destroy the flavour.
As a key component
in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic goes
very well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic
vinaigrette is outstanding with seafood,
artichokes and asparagus. A balsamic salad 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.
