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Balsamic Vinegar

© James Dixon

Balsamic vinegar or aceto balsamio has been produced for over 600 years but only became popular outside Italy after Luciano Pavarotti sang its praises in the late seventies. Although called a vinegar, and technically it is, it is nothing like the kind you might splash on your chips or pickle onions with. Instead, you might use it to dress some strawberries or drink as an aperitif.

The method used to produce this dark, syrupy, sweet, slightly acidic vinegar has not changed over hundreds of years. Traditionally, the freshly pressed juice of Trebbiano grapes from the hills near Modena is simmered until reduced by thirty to seventy percent. The concentrated grape 'must' is then fermented by yeast to make alcohol, and then again by the ancient madre culture.

The fermentation process takes place in a series of casks called a (i>bateria. Each cask is made from a resinous wood chosen for the qualities it gives the balsamic vinegar; the most common woods being oak, ash, mulberry, cherry, and chestnut. As the balsamic vinegar ages it becomes more concentrated (due to evaporation), consequently the casks decrease in size.

In contrast to wine, the casks are stored in attics rather than cellars where they are exposed to the hot summers and cold winters of the Modena region, activating and blocking fermentation; said to be very important to the taste of the final product.

The Consorzio Tra Produttori Dell'Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena was established in 1979 to guarantee the quality of their member's balsamic vinegar. All balsamic vinegar produced by the Consorzio is sold in the same shaped bottle (short and chubby with a rectangular bottom), the design of which is registered and. Each bottle is numbered, registered, and displays the seal of the Consorzio (pictured).

Before the balsamic vinegar is bottled it has to undergo a series of blind tests. If it passes, the vinegar does not leave the Consorzio until it has been bottled; to ensure that only what has been approved is bottled. If the balsamic vinegar fails, it is returned to the producer.

Under Italian law, balsamic vinegar made in the traditional painstaking fashion is classed as food. Commercial balsamic vinegar (controlled by the Consorzio per la Tutela di Aceto Balsamico di Modena) made from a blend of grape must and wine vinegar, and fermented for an unspecified time is declared as vinegar under Italian law.

Even though Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale is far superior to its commercial cousin, it should be remembered that even in Modena, commercial balsamic vinegar outsells the traditional variety. One of the reasons is cost, held high because producers are strictly limited in how much they can produce by the Consorzio.

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