Thursday, August 03, 2006

Aceto Balsamico


I love Balsamic Vinegar. Love, love, love it. Whenever I've done test for food intolerance they always find me intolerant to yeasts. I can do without bread and cookies and even tea for a certain amount of time, but I absolutely CRAVE the balsamic vinegar. It totally changes the flavour of a salad or even on other vegetables. My bonus is that I live in the town where BV originated. They have "Acetaia", vinegar estates everywhere and they put it all sorts of food preparations, even ice cream. Balsamic vinegar is different because it's made with a specific grape (usually trebbiano) and then at harvest they're crushed and boiled down to 50% volume. Then theyt're aged in wood barrels for at least ten years...and voilĂ , you get this thick, aged liquid to pour on your veggies.
The other day I was at the supermarket getting groceries and I ventured to the Balsamic Vinegar section. Up until now I've always gone for the moderately priced ones that didn't have any artificial colouring in them because what many will do is take regular vinegar, dye it black and slap a BV label on it. While I was studying the various brands labels there was another man next to me doing the same thing. All of the sudden this lady plowed between the two of us and grabbed five bottles of one brand called "Due Ponti". The gentleman and I exchanged popped eyed stares at each other. I stopped the lady as she was walking away and asked her about her choice. She said she thought this was the best choice with a quality/price balance. A 250ml bottle costed € 9,10 euro, twice the price I've been paying. But I decided to try it out and see if she was right. OMG! What have I been ingesting all these years? The new brand was thick as syrup and you really only needed a few drops to get this wonderful cherry flavour. Makes me want to lick my plate!

4 comments:

Carrie said...

I had a balsamic one thime that left a vanilla aftertaste with the particular red wine we were drinking with dinner. It sure was memorable.

Anonymous said...

phwoar! BV rules! i have a bottle in my desk at work, hehe. you are lucky to live in the home of BV :)

Mojo said...

I've always had BV in salad dressing.

When you talk about eating it with vegetables, are you talking steamed? You do add anything else? Like butter or olive oil?

Glad you found an orgasmic vinegar! :)

Julia said...

Over steamed vegetables like string beans or broccoli. With Olive oil, I never use butter (or margarine).