Balsamic Vinegar
High quality vinegar from the town of Modena, northern Italy
Balsamic vinegar is a high quality, traditional condiment and cooking ingredient made in the town of Modena, in the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy.
It is made from the pure unfermented juice of local grapes, mainly of the trebbiano variety. This juice is known as a 'must'.
The must is then concentrated by boiling down until it turns into an intensely fruity syrup. A combination of yeasts and bacteria is added to the concentrate in the form of a slimy substance that forms naturally on the surface of mature vinegars, known as 'mother of vinegar'.
This ferments the syrup, turing the sugars eventually into acetic acid.
Once so fermented, the vinegar is transferred into wooden barrels and left to mature for at least 6 years, although the very best balsamics are matured for far longer - anything up to 50 years.
As the vinegar matures, it decreases in volume due to evaporation, and is transferred to smaller and smaller barrels to compensate, each barrel's wood adding another layer of flavour to the finished vinegar.
The final product is a dark, thick vinegar with a mellow flavour, and while it still retains a good vinegar 'bite', the harshness has been removed. For this reason it makes an excellent salad dressing, especially for strongly flavoured leaves such as rocket.
It can also be used as a flavouring in cooking, where small amounts can add a depth of both flavour and colour.
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