aceto balsamico tradizionale
balsamic Vinegar
is a traditional viscous flavored vinegar typically used
in Tuscan cooking. It is sometimes used as a salad
vinaigrette when combined with vinegar or as a marinade. It
is a traditional food product developed in Modena, Italy,
where it has been Produced since the Middle Ages and the
brand is protected by the Italian government. Unlike
table vinegars, it is very dark and heavy with a complex,
sweet taste and is much more pricey. True Balsamico
vinegar has been aged in casks fifteen years and upwards.
The finest balsamico vinegars
have no other ingredients added to them - only
the trebbiano grapes. Lesser ones will include brown sugar or caramel
to model the sweetness of the better ones. If a company
makes a "traditional" aged balsamic vinegar,
they will also develop a less costly, but high quality
vinegar as well.
View
our free Balsamic vinaigrette Recipes.
Oil and vinegar Balsamic Salad dressings.
Balsamic vinegar is Produced
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 balsamic vinegar,
with a slow aging procedure
done in oak casks that concentrates
the flavours. The flavour is intensified over years,
with the vinegar being kept in fine oak barrels, becoming
sweet, viscous and very concentrated in flavor. Some
aged balsamico 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 starts the long evaporation and aging process
that makes aged balsamico vinegar striking and unique. Balsamic vinegar
does not go bad after opening as oxygen is part
of the aging process, you can cherish your finest bottle
and use it on special entrees. Do
not overheat or cook balsamic vinegar
as it will destroy the flavour.
As a key component
in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic goes
particularly well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic
vinaigrette is great with seafood,
fresh spinach and asparagus. A balsamic vinaigrette 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.
