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What the heck is ... balsamic vinegar?
 The
most precious of all the Italian condiments, Balsamic Vinegar is an ancient
product, rich in aromas and flavors. Balsamic vinegar, unlike most other
vinegars, is a perfectly tuned balance of sharp, sweet, rich and piquant.
The best (and only true, authentic) balsamic vinegars hail from the Modena
and Reggio-Emilia regions in Italy, where the use of barrels made from
various woods give these aged vinegars their exceptional flavor. Traditional
balsamic vinegar is about as closely related to “regular”
vinegar as perfume is to gasoline. A few drops of this noble elixir are
capable of making any dish special. Here at Tapino, we use balsamic vinegar
frequently to enhance various dishes. You will often find it in the dressing
on our watermelon salads, and as a garnish on pan roasted scallops and
other seafood dishes. It is wonderfully delicious, and extremely expensive.
General rule of thumb: If it costs and arm and a leg, it is the “real
stuff”. If you can afford it, it is probably the cheap imitation!
Fortunately, a little of the real stuff goes a long way.
Balsamic vinegar is made from the “must” (fresh juice) of
over-ripe Trebbiano and several other varieties of grapes. Must is obtained
by pressing the grapes (as you would for wine), and then cooking the juice
over a gentle, direct wood fire, in open steel cauldrons, for many hours. This
operation kills any yeast and sterilizes the must from any fermenting
process, and concentrates the flavors and sugars. At the end of the cooking
process, the juice has been reduced to about 45% of its original volume.
The final sugar content is about 30-36%. Before the aging process begins,
the concentrated must - now called “Mosto Cotto” - is poured
into old wooden vats for the duration of its first winter season in order
to decant (settle out the dregs, leaving a “pure” liquid).
The syrup is then placed into small oak barrels containing some of last
years product and a vinegar "mother" which begins the aging
process. The Vinegar "mother" is a cluster (blob) of “acetobacter
aceti” bacterial agents which have been left behind from previous
years' productions. In theory, each barrel contains a blend of grape musts
dating back to the very first production. In springtime, when the weather
warms up, the first alcoholic fermen tation
begins, followed immediately, and concurrently, by an acetic oxidation,
produced by the aceto-bacteria. This slow process continues for several
years. The young balsamic vinegar is aged for a minimum of 12 years, and
up to 100 years - or even longer (The 100 year old stuff is the holy grail
of vinegars. Unfortunately, you will never taste it because you can’t
afford it…but you can always
dream!) in a series of wooden barrels, where some of the sugars slowly
convert to alcohol and then oxidize into acetic acid, and excess water
evaporates. Eventually, a thick, syrupy, sweet,
pungent, acidic,
miraculous, culinary treasure develops inside the wooden casks. At the
proper time (only the vinegar masters
know when that is), it is drawn off and bottled. Voila! Traditional (and
very expens ive)
balsamic vinegar!
Before we can truly appreciate balsamic vinegar, we must first talk about
regular vinegar. Almost any liquid (juice) that contains sugars can be
fermented by yeast into an alcoholic liquid. If you ferment apple juice,
you get “hard cider”. If you ferment grain “juice”
(wort), you get beer. If you ferment Agave juice, you get pulque. If you
ferment grape “juice” (must), you get wine. All of these fermentations
will stop naturally at a maximum of about 13-16% alcohol because the alcohol
generated by fermentation finally overwhelms the living yeast cells and
kills them. If there happens to be some left-over sugar after the fermentation
process ends, the liquid will be sweet. If the fermentation process runs
out of sugar before the yeast cells kill themselves, the liquid will be
“dry” (un-sweet). Each of these fermented, alcoholic “juices”
is the basis of a commonly available table vinegar.
 SIDE
BAR: Each of these same fermented juices is also the basis of some of
our common high-alcohol distilled liquors. If you distill beer, you
get whisky. If you distill hard cider, you get Apple Jack. If you distill
pulque, you get tequila. If you distill wine, you get brandy. If you
distill “enzymatically fermented industrial hydrolyzed corn starch”
and wood pulp by-products, you get industrial ethanol (gasoline additive!
– chemical plant raw material!), which, if purified, is also converted
(by catalytic oxidation, and dilution with water) into that nasty stuff
called “distilled white vinegar” that they sell in gallon
jugs at the supermarket. Yep, they sell it as a food product, but it
is suitable only for cleaning windows and dying Easter eggs! Mixed with
baking soda, it also makes a really neat “Volcano” for your
kid’s science project! Under no circumstances would I ever consider
putting any of it in my mouth.
Common vinegar is produced by allowing any one
of these fermented alcoholic juices to convert some or all of the alcohol
into acetic acid. This conversion is the natural result of the metabolism
of the alcohol by a special species of bacteria known as “acetobacter
aceti”. The resulting products, wine vinegar and cider vinegar (un-hopped
beer is converted into “malt vinegar” and is popular in Britain
on fish & chips) are aged for awhile – weeks to years –
and maybe doctored up a little with flavorings - and then bottled for
sale as table/cooking vinegar. (that awful stuff that they call “cooking
sherry” is just cheap, dilute sherry wine vinegar with enough salt
added to it to make it un-drinkable, and keep your  prohibitionist
grandmother happy. A curse on you if you have any of this noxious crap
in your home!) The basic definition of common wine vinegar is that it
is made from un-concentrated juice that is first, quickly fermented to
full alcohol strength wine (with no residual sugar), and then converted
to vinegar through bacterial oxidation. The acetic acid content, the 'sourness'
of vinegars, varies according to what they are made from and how much
sugar was in the original juice. Rice vinegars are the mildest and Distilled
white vinegar is the strongest. Cider and wine vinegars generally fall
in the mid-range, with wine vinegars slightly more acetic than those made
from cider.
The earliest method for making vinegar was to leave wine or beer, in an
open container and wait for it to turn sour. The French word “vinaigre”
means “sour wine”. The word “ale-gar” was used
at one time to denote vinegar made from beer or ale. It is now known  as
“malt vinegar”. As with so many things to do with food and
drink, the French developed a more sophisticated way for producing quality
vinegar. They left wine in wooden casks for two to six months and it slowly
turned into vinegar. It was then filtered into fresh casks and left to
mature for a period of months or years. This became known as the “Orleans
method” after the place where this technique was perfected. Good
quality wines were used to make good quality vinegar and the practice
continues to this day. Red wine vinegar is left to mature for a longer
time than white wine vinegar. Vinegars made by the slow Orleans method
are as complex and flavorful as fine wines and just as expensive. Balsamic
vinegar, on the other hand, never was wine. It is made from cooked, concentrated,
high sugar content, grape juice that is simultaneously fermented and oxidized
very slowly by a combination of yeasts and bacteria inside vented wooden
kegs over a period of many years. Believe me! There is a difference!
Not all balsamic vinegars are created equal, either. In fact, like most
food products, there is the “real thing”, and there is an
industrial commercial version masquerading in the supermarket as the real
thing. There are four different variations on the theme of balsamic vinegar: 1: “Traditional
balsamic vinegar of Modena” (real); 2: “Balsamic vinegar of Modena” (not-so-real); 3: “Traditional
balsamic vinegar of Reggio-Emilia” (real); and 4: “balsamic condiments” (cheap, artificial crap!).
As far as traditional balsamic vinegars are concerned, their production
and marketing are regulated and safeguarded by Italian government Ministerial
D.O.C. decrees, and a consortium of traditional balsamic vinegar producers.
Every bottle of authentic traditional balsamic vinegar carries a seal
of authenticity on its label. If it Ain’t got the seal, it Ain’t
the real thing! The production processes for traditional balsamic vinegar
of Modena and of Reggio-Emilia are practically the same. The rules for
“traditional balsamic vinegar of Reggio-Emilia” states that
it must be produced by “must (unfermented grape juice) cooked in
direct fire and produced by the pressing of grapes traditionally cultivated
in the province of Reggio-Emilia”. Grapes used for its production
are: Ancelotta, Trebbiano, Occhio di Gatta, Sauvignon, Sgavetta, Berzemino
and Lambrusco. The rules for the production of “traditional balsamic
vinegar of Modena” are essentially the same but specify Trebbiano,
Lambrusco, Ancellotta, Sauvignon and Sgavetta grapes, cultivated in the
province of Modena. It is illegal to utilize any additives, or non-traditional
processes for the production of either version. The differences in the
varieties of grapes and the selection of wood varieties for the aging
barrels produce the flavors and aromas which make each “appellation”
unique.
The rules for production of both Modena and Reggio-Emilia traditional
balsamic vinegar requires that “must”(grape juice) be obtained
by pressing the specified grapes, which is subsequently cooked and concentrated
over a direct wood fire, in open steel cauldrons. Before the aging process
begins, this “mosto cotto” (cooked grape juice) is poured
into old wooden vats and is left in them over their first winter in order
to decant. This production phase, because of the effects of evaporation,
concentrates sugars, and allows inoculation with yeasts (saccharomyces),
which transforms sugar into alcohol. The alcohol produced this way nourishes
the acetobacter aceti, responsible for the transformation of alcohol into
acetic acid. In springtime, a first alcoholic fermentation takes place
followed by immediate and simultaneous oxidation into acetic acid, helped
by aceto-bacteria. After several months the liquid is drawn from the vats
and used to fill up the “first-stage” casks of the “acetaie”
(literally “vinegar factory”). The “acetaie” is
a series of 10 to 20 progressively smaller and older casks made up of
different types of woods. The different woods infuse the vinegar with
subtle flavors and aromas. The most typical woods are oak, chestnut, cherry,
ash, mulberry and juniper. In some cases, wood of the locust tree is used
as well. New casks are never used for the first-stage production of balsamic
vinegar, They must be used for at least one year with older vinegar in
order to allow acetobacter aceti bacteria to impregnate the wood.
As opposed to wine which is kept in cellars having a constant temperature
and humidity, balsamic vinegar is aged in barns and attics where a wide temperature
variation can take place. The winter's cold promotes the decanting (settling
out of dregs) process, and the hot summertime temperatures promote the
fermentation, oxidation, and evaporation process. The aging casks are
never filled to capacity. They are vented and filled only 3/4 full to
allow sufficient air space in the cask so that during the temperature
fluctuations the cask can “breath” and introduce oxygen to
promote the aceto-bacteria activity. Each year during the aging process,
as evaporation takes place (about 10% per year) older barrels in the line
are brought back up to the proper fill level by transferring younger vinegar
from preceding barrels in the line – each barrel being replenished
with vinegar from its upstream (younger) immediate neighbor in a cascading
process that, over time, blends the younger vinegars with the older vinegars
and provides a continuity of product characteristics from year to year.
Only after a minimum of 12 to15 years, some of the aged product can be
drawn from the oldest barrel for sale. Because individual barrels are
never entirely emptied, theoretically, every bottle of vinegar sold, contains
a few molecules of vinegar from the very first batch ever made at that
acetaie – maybe several centuries old. From that point on, each
year, fresh vinegar are added to the upstream end of the line and aged
vinegar is marketed from the oldest, downstream, barrel. The process is
self-sustaining. The minimum aging process, 12 years, may seem a long
time…. until you compare it to the 100 years or more during which
some balsamics are aged. The longer the aging process, the more moisture
evaporates out, thereby thickening the liquid and concentrating the flavor.
So the longer it is aged, the less there is of it, the higher the quality
and, of course, the higher the price. Some really old, really special,
balsamic vinegars can cost as much as $800 for a 4oz. bottle. Some day,
before I die, I hope to taste a drop or two of some thing
that is that expensive!
An interesting fact is that evaporation takes place at a rate of about
10% per year, so in just 12 years, 100 gallons reduces down to a mere
28 gallons, and after 100 years as little as a quart remains…. .
. .Thankfully, a little goes a long way!
The “balsamic vinegar” (it doesn’t have the DOC seal),
which is the product usually found in supermarkets, is made of regular
wine vinegar, of more or less quality, to which is added some concentrated
“mosto cotto”(cooked grape juice) and other ingredients. This
usually involves the blending of wine vinegar, mosto cotto, caramel coloring,
wood extract, and cane sugar in large stainless steel vats to produce
a sweet-and-sour-tasting vinegar that can legally be called “balsamic
vinegar”. Obviously, it is much less expensive and bears no resemblance
to the luxurious and intense complexity of the naturally produced, aged,
traditional balsamic vinegar. It may-or-may-not be “aged”
any longer than it takes to pump it through the bottling plant and ship
it to your local supermarket.
At the very bottom of the culinary heap are “Balsamic condiments”.
They are not regulated and therefore are not subject to any laws or rules,
or even common decency for their production beyond basic “food product”
toxicity and sanitation rules. Lord knows what you might get if you buy
this stuff. Maybe some of that Industrial “distilled white vinegar”
made from paper industry waste products, along with some FDA #8 or #10
dye, some corn syrup, burnt sugar, and lots of things whose names end
with -ite, -ose, or -ate. It may-or-may-not contain anything that ever
grew on a vine! If you encounter this stuff in your supermarket …
and you will: Stand back from the shelf! Lower your arms! Slowly move
away … and then run like hell. It is nasty! It is vile! It is the
work of Satan!
There are many historical popular beliefs about the medical and cosmetic
use of balsamic vinegar. It is said that a spoonful of balsamic vinegar
will relieve a sore throat. A sip of balsamic vinegar is a good remedy
for curing a hangover. Grandmothers of old used it diluted with water
to soften and brighten their hair. Balsamic vinegar was also used as a
disinfectant for wounds and for keeping away mosquitoes. A teaspoon of
balsamic vinegar in a glass of water is an excellent thirst quencher.
Balsamic vinegar was also considered a remedy for back ache and rheumatism,
as well as an aphrodisiac. Hmmmmm … … …
Like many vinegars, balsamic lends itself to salad dressings such as vinaigrette.
Its incredible flavor allows it to be used in circumstances where one
wouldn't even contemplate using regular vinegar – like on ice cream!
Its unique flavor brings out the sweetness of fresh fruits such as peach es,
raspberries and strawberries. The strength of its intense flavor allows
you to use only a few drops for most applications.
Heating tends to reduce the acidity and also sweetens balsamic vinegar
so, if a more mellow flavor is required, cook it. A teaspoon or so of
balsamic vinegar can perk up a sauce, soup, casserole or stew. A reduction
glaze of balsamic vinegar adds a mysterious zing to savory dishes. Balsamic
vinegars are not recommended for pickling. They do not have enough acidity.
Balsamic vinegar can be stored indefinitely – Heck, it lived in
a ventilated keg in somebody’s barn for over 12 years before you
ever saw it! Even when the bottle has been opened, the introduction of
oxygen will not cause any deterioration. It should be stored in a cool,
dark place away from heat. Any sediment found in the bottle can be ignored
as it is a natural by-product of the production process and is not harmful.
There is only one rule that should be obeyed: it must be kept away from
substances that have strong odors in order not to compromise its fragrance.
As with other vinegars, do not use aluminum containers for cooking with
balsamic vinegar, or when using it to marinate ingredients. Use a non-reactive
container like stainless steel or glass instead.
Unlike the sharp tastes we usually associate with vinegar, balsamic vinegar
presents a rich dark complex of sweetness and mystery. It should come
as no surprise that when balsamic vinegar was first produced, more than
600 years ago, it was reserved exclusively for the use of nobility. If
you can learn to read vinegar labels the same way you read wine labels,
you can open up a new world of curiosity and adventure and … maybe
make some wonderful discoveries.
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