Paul & Lauren’s Travels

During Lauren’s first visit to Italy I received a call from her, she was all excited about her visit to a Balsamic vinegar producer and I just couldn’t understand why … until she came home with the goods! It turns out that the Balsamic vinegar I’d grown accustomed was a poor cousin to a much larger, and more exquisite, family tree. Thick, rich, sweet and complex, the real Balsamico is aged up to 25 years and is practically worth it’s weight in gold.

The locals in Emilia Romagna have been producing Balsamic Vinegar for a long time. Traditionally families would keep a “batteria” or battery of wooden barrels in the attic in which they would age the “cooked must” or grape juice that would eventually become a syrupy, sweet vinegar over many years of fermentation and evaporation. Interestingly, Balsamic vinegar is not made from wine, nor is it made from red grapes. The cooked must slowly evaporates over many years and takes on the colour and flavour charateristics of the different woods in which it ages. 

The batterias are kept in families for generations and are so valuable that they are often given as wedding presents. The vinegar is taken from the barrels at various intervals depending on the grade and value, ranging from three to twenty five years. The twenty five year balsamic is actually so sweet it is usually used to garnish sweets and desserts, and one small bottle will set you back at least eighty euros, but once you’ve tried it you can not be without it.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 11:40 pm and is filed under Food and Produce, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.