Balsamic Vinegar

Balsamic Vinegar is made primarily from the juice of white Trebbiano grapes, which is boiled slowly down to a syrup. (Other grapes used can be Spergola, Berzemino, and Occhio di Gatto.) The syrup (or "must") is aged in wooden barrels, and topped up with some older Balsamic Vinegar. One hundred litres (about 26 US gallons) of the grape juice are needed to produce 6 litres (1.6 gallons) of the vinegar.

Balsam is a "fragrant resin" that comes out of wood. The balsams that flavour Balsamic Vinegar come into it naturally as it ages in different kinds of wooden barrels. There is a small window in the top of each barrel to allow evaporation. Each window is covered by a cloth doily to keep dust out. The approved woods that can be used for the barrels are ash, juniper, mulberry, chestnut, acacia, cherry and oak. Each year the vinegar is transferred to a barrel of a different wood, so that it can take on the different flavours.

The resultant vinegar is a brown, thick syrup vinegar, with a sweet and sour flavour.

Balsamic Vinegar labelled "Traditional" is very expensive. It takes anywhere from 12 to 25 years to make (12 years for a Tradizionale bottle, 25 years for "Tradizionale extra vecchio.") Some balsamics are even aged 50 years. It can only be made in the Modena and Reggio regions of Italy, by law (European law), and it can only be made by members of a Consortium called "Consortium of the Producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena." Members of the Consortium are only allowed to make so much each, so that the selling price isn't impacted by larger quantities on the market place.

Traditional isn't the only kind, however. Some pretty decent stuff is also produced in the Modena region, but because it's mass produced, it can't be called "Traditional." And, there are dirt-cheap knock-off Balsamic Vinegars made in America, Canada and the UK. These knock-offs have a bit of Balsamic Vinegar in them, to which wine vinegar is added, and then brown sugar or caramel to both sweeten the vinegar and give it the dark colour. Note that true Balsamic does not start from wine, but from juice.

Expensive Balsamics can easily start at £42 / $70 US a litre (Oct 2003), though they are usually sold in smaller 250ml bottles.

Aceto Balsamico di Modena is a lower grade that starts with boiled grape juice, fresh grape juice and wine vinegar. It is matured for less time than Tradizionale. It has a milder flavour, which sometimes can actually be advantageous in some dishes. Unlike Tradizonale, this is the one to use as an ingredient in things. If you are using the most expensive Balsamics, such as a Tradizonale shouldn't be used in cooking a dish, or even in a dressing. It is wasteful of these higher grades to use them like that; a lower grade one will do that job fine. Instead, a Tradizonale should be used as a table condiment on food such as risotto or strawberries. Use only a very small amount, almost as though you were applying it with an eye-dropper. Some foodies actually have do eye droppers or spray atomizers that they use.

Whatever grade of Balsamic Vinegar you are using in cooking, add it at the end so that the flavour doesn't get cooked out.

Can be used to deglaze a meat pan.Another kind of vinegar, such as red wine vinegar mixed with a bit of honey or sugar, or fruit or sherry vinegar, if you have any to hand. In cooking and glazing, red vermouth. Or, try Black Rice Vinegar.

Balsamic Vinegar was known to the Greeks, and they still make Balsamic Vinegar, but the Italians now claim it as their own.

A vinegar called "laudatum acetum" made in Canossa, Reggio Emilia, was given in 1046, in a silver bottle, by the Marquis Bonifacio to Henry III (1017 – 1056), the Holy Roman Emperor at the time. Some presume that this was Balsamic Vinegar, but this is just speculation. There is no way to know.

Up to the Middle Ages, the sugar-rich Trebbiano grape was used primarily for wine. By about the 1200s, it seems to have been generally decided that what was being made was more a vinegar than a wine, owing to the high acidity in these grapes, and efforts were focussed in that direction. References to "balsamic" earlier than that in Italy may be more to a wine than a vinegar.

It seems certain that what we know as Balsamic Vinegar today as being produced for sure by the late 1700s, because a bottle of it from then was found, and opened: "On the 28th of June 1995, the consortium opened a bottle of "Balsamico brusco", dated 1785. It was "declared by Vincenzo Ferrari Amorotti to be in a perfect state of conservation and intensely aromatic." [2]

Marcella Hazan, the American food writer, says that Balsamic Vinegar really wasn't marketed commercially until the 1970s:

"I have forgotten the exact year that I became acquainted with balsamic vinegar, but it happened in the early 1970s on a vist to Bologna, when the Fini food company of Modena announced its tradition-breaking intention to bottle it and release it commercially. Like all land-owning families in Modena, the Finis had been making balsamic vinegar for their own use for generations, and through marriage, inheritance, and acquisition, they had amassed a substantial stock of it... George Fini... gave me a few samples of the vinegar and a prototype of the eight-sided bottle they were going to put it into.... Craig Claiborne came over for one of our periodic lunches during which we chatted about our world, and he became the first person in America to taste it. 'This will be a sensation,' he said." -- Hazan, Marcella. Amarcord: Marcella Remembers. New York: Gotham Books. 2008. Page 210-211.

This conflicts, though, with other evidence that the Monari Federzoni brand was on the market way before that. In 1912, Mrs. Elena Monari Federzoni, in Modena, Italy, applied for a license to sell her Balsamic Vinegar, which she made in the loft above her grocery store, and sold there.

"The Federzonis were the first to make balsamic vinegar commercially, beginning in 1912..." -- Zwack, Anne Marshall. Italy's Aged Balsamic Vinegar. New York Times. 3 January 1988.

It may be that by "tradition-breaking" Hazan meant for the Fini family, rather than for the Balsamic Vinegar industry as a whole.

The "Consortium of the Producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" was created in 1979, championed by Ferdinando Cavalli. In 1993, the product received protected recognition under the name of "Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena." In 2009, the product received European PGI designation.

The first mention that CooksInfo.com has found of it in the American press is in 1980:

"Pat Brown, editor of CUISINE, the magazine of fine food and creative living, has these gift suggestions: Oils and vinegars. Fine oils and vinegars make excellent gifts. Although they cost more than other oils and vinegars, as gifts they are easily affordable. A selection of three oils and three vinegars makes a super gift. Try giving first-pressed virgin olive oil. hazelnut oil and walnut oil. All are delicious in salad dressings, and the first-pressed virgin olive oil may also be used for cooking. It's this kind of olive oil that makes the real taste difference in many Italian and Mediterranean dishes such as ratatouille, pesto, and zuppa di pesce. For vinegars, try raspberry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and sherry vinegar. They're a logical and delicious complement to the oils for mixing and matching. Your gift of oils and vinegars could be packed in a basket or tote for added eye appeal." -- "Food fanciers get Christmas treats." Cedar Rapids Gazette. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 27 November 1980. Page 36. Column 3.

There is evidence, backed up by Craig Claiborne that Marcella Hazan was responsible for bringing the vinegar to the attention of Americans:

"Q. I have developed quite a liking for balsamic vinegar and am curious to know how it is made.
A. Balsamic vinegar was all but unknown in this country until it was introduced several years ago in the writings of the Italian food authority Marcella Hazan. In her book "More Classic Italian Cooking" (Alfred A. Knopf, 1978), she wrote: "A very special vinegar, aceto balsamico di Modena, is made from the boiled-down must of white Trebbiano grapes, and aged in a series of barrels of different woods, of gradually diminishing size. By law it must be at least 10 years old, but homemade aceto balsamico is often aged 50 years or more. It is a mellow, sweet-and-sour liquor of a vinegar, with a heady fragrance. A minute quantity added to regular vinegar is sufficient in a salad." -- Claiborne, Craig. "Well, first you catch a possum..." In: Orange County Register. Santa Ana, California. 10 August 1983. Page 106.

Balsamon in Greek, means "reliever" or medicine. Balsamic Vinegar was often seen as a restorative or as a cure for some ills. [1] Zwack, Anne Marshall. Italy's Aged Balsamic Vinegar. New York Times. 3 January 1988.

[2] Nora, Luciana. "Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena a Carpi tradition as well." Carpi Town Council Ethnographic Centre. March 2008.

Also called:

Protected Geographic Indication, White Balsamic Vinegar

Arengga Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar, Banyuls Vinegar, Black Rice Vinegar, Blueberry Vinegar, Borage Vinegar, Burnet Vinegar, Cane Vinegar, Champagne Vinegar, Cider Vinegar, Coconut Vinegar, Date Vinegar, Fennel Vinegar, Fig Vinegar, Herbed Vinegars, Horseradish Vinegar, Malt Vinegar, Mint Vinegar, Mother of Vinegar, Palm Vinegar, Perry Vinegar, Pineapple Vinegar, Plum Vinegar, Raisin Vinegar, Raspberry Vinegar, Red Rice Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Rice Wine Vinegar, Seasoned Rice Vinegar, Sherry Vinegar, Suka Vinegar, Tarragon Vinegar, Verjuice, Vinaigre d'Orléans, Whey Vinegar, White Balsamic Vinegar, White Vinegar, White Wine Vinegar, Yuzu Vinegar

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