The best balsamic vinegars have nothing else added to them - only the grapes. Lesser vinegars will include brown sugar or caramel to imitate the sweetness of the authentic balsamic vinegars. If a company creates a "traditional" balsamic vinegar, they will also make a less costly, but quality vinegar as well.

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Oil and vinegar Balsamic Salad dressings.

Balsamic vinegar is Created 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 procedure done in wood casks that concentrates the flavours. The flavour is deepened over decades, with the aged balsamic vinegar being kept in fine oak barrels, becoming sweet, viscous and very concentrated in flavor. Some older balsamico vinegar is added to the "must" to create a more complex and intricate taste, and to add acidity.

The thick syrup is transferred to oak casks to ferment in the open air and then begins 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 appreciate your best bottle and use it on special recipes. Do not heat or cook balsamic vinegar as it will ruin the flavour.

As a key ingredient in vinaigrette dressings, balsamic blends very well with olive oil. Olive oil-balsamic vinaigrette is great with seafood, artichokes and asparagus. A balsamic 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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