Balsamic Vinegar From Modena

(Modena) ITALY

 

Balsamic vinegar is noted for its brown color, intense fruity aroma, and exquisite sweet-and sour flavor.

The true "aceto balsamico" vinegar is produced in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy that stretches from the Adriatic Sea to within a few miles of the Gulf of Genoa. It has been made since the eleventh century. Highly prized since its earliest days, it was given as a ducal gift to Holy Roman Emperor Henry III in 1046 as well as to other important European statesman through the centuries.

The name balsamic, from balsam and balm, is derived from its supposed medicinal properties, including its use as a protection against the plague. Until recently balsamic vinegar was produced for family use only, with barrels passed from one generation to the next, often aging for fifty to two hundred or more years.

True "aceto balsamico" starts out as must (unfermented juice) from grapes that have a high sugar content, most notably Trebbiano grapes. When it has begun to ferment, it is boiled over a wood fire in copper cauldrons until reduced by at least a third. It is then combined with vinegar containing active bacteria cultures and placed in the first of a series of progressively smaller wooden casks, called "batteria". The " batteria" may be made of juniper, oak, chestnut, mulberry, cherry, locust, alder, or ash.

The alternating heat and cold of the seasons are essential
to the slow changes wrought in the vinegar. With an evaporation rate of about 10 percent each year, 100 liters of must will become only 15 liters of vinegar twelve years later. When the flavor is found acceptably intense, the vinegar is sealed in a final small wooden cask.

The officially sanctioned substitute for the true "aceto balsamic" vinegar has an Italian government designation of "Denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) and is controlled by the Consortium of Producers of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.

According to Italian law, for a vinegar to be labeled "aceto balsamico" it is usually 6 percent acidity. To maintain its luscious flavor, balsamic vinegar is added at the end of cooking or used as a condiment to enhance the flavors of foods.

Some common uses for balsamic vinegar include glazing liver or chicken, sprinkling it on fresh strawberries, adding it to sparkling mineral water to make a beverage, or using it as an ingredient in salad dressings and marinades for steamed or roasted vegetables or seafood.