Balsamic vinegar - have you tried the real thing?

"Ketchup for the middle classes." Oliver Thring - The Guardian

Today we had to replenish our supply of balsamic vinegar. After all any cook who thinks of themselves as a good cook will have some balsamic vinegar in their pantry. As we were considering which one to buy (we settled on a mid-price bottle which was on a special), I was telling David that what we usually had was not the 'real' thing, but, quite mistakenly I now find (unbelievably mistakenly in fact), I thought the more expensive bottles on the shelf - around $8.00 a bottle from memory, were the real thing. Not at all as it turns out. The real thing could set you back £200 in England, possibly more. And I finally found one here in Australia - the most expensive I found - priced at $495.95!!! Well it is 100 years old. Here it is, with some other only slightly less pricey versions of the real thing. By the way, apparently the shape of the bottle is also decreed by law. So I doubt whether I, or maybe you have ever tasted the real thing.

"Vinegar develops when airborne bacteria settle on booze (beer, wine, fermented fruit juice, whatever) and turn the alcohol into the sharp, punchy overkill of acetic acid." Oliver Thring - The Guardian

One of the things I regret from our week in the hills near Modena a few years back, is that we didn't visit a balsamic vinegar making place that our hostess told us about. She even had some bottles that I could have bought - they were very small - and I vaguely remember tasting one of them - it was very delicious. It's a long and complicated process to make it. Made from grape must - from Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes mostly - which is cooked, a 'mother' added, I think and then put in barrels, and left for at least 12 years. At the end of each year it is moved to an open 'new' barrel which is slightly smaller and of a different wood. But I have explained it very poorly. Go to Wikipedia for the correct version. The other significant thing is that it's a DOP - or an appellation controlée sort of thing with strict rules (and a high degree of arcane secrecy). There are only two DOPs - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia. What we mostly have on our supermarket shelves is an IGP - Aceto Balsamic di Modena. There are rules about this too so if it hasn't got the IGP label on it, it's not even this poorer cousin. The main difference is that the lesser version has red wine vinegar added to it and it doesn't have to be aged as long - a minimum of 60 days I believe. And I believe the taste is a bit like chalk and cheese in comparison to the real deal. Mind you we already have Australians making their own versions, so maybe it won't be long before theirs will be competing with the real thing. And it might be a bit cheaper too. Not cheap though - it's too long a process and you need a lot of grapes to make a small amount.

The name comes from the Greek and has nothing to do with balsam and everything to do with balm - for it was mostly used as a medicine back then. Various people still exhort its healthy properties but truth to tell I could not find a lot about this aspect of the stuff.

Apparently it was made for centuries in Emilia Romagna - particularly in the Modena and Reggio Emilia provinces, but went into a decline when the crop-sharing method of agriculture died out. Then in 1966 some bright spark in a village in the area had the idea for a balsamic vinegar competition and the tradition was revived. It became a big thing in America and other western countries back in the 70s and 80s. Marcella Hazan was mentioned as one of the instigators of its revival. It's certainly true that Elizabeth David does not mention it in her book Italian Food, and neither does my Italy the Beautiful Cookbook. All of the trendy chefs of today though, use it in one dish or another and I have to say that this is how I use it mostly - something to perk up a dish or to use in a spicy marinade - in a way a bit like maple syrup or soy sauce. A quick search of the internet will bring up heaps of suggestions for enticing dishes that include balsamic vinegar. I don't like it in a vinaigrette though - it's too rich for that I think. David, on the other hand, loves it and when he is making his salads on my fasting days he usually uses balsamic vinegar.

"Italians do not put balsamic vinegar on bread. Italians do not make a salad dressing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil (red wine vinegar only). Traditional aceto balsamico is wildly expensive, exquisitely good and should never be wasted or drowned in olive oil." Anne Reavis - Tuscan Traveler

Then there's the dash of balsamic vinegar in olive oil (extra virgin of course) into which you then dip bits of bread.

This also seems to be an American, specifically San Francisco, invention that the Italians truly do not understand. It's almost a given here though. Every trendy restaurant considers it de rigeur. I am trying to remember whether we had it in Italy at all but I'm afraid I cannot recall. According to Anne Reavis though it absolutely is not the done thing.

"In 1998, I arrived in Italy and it was immediately apparent that there was absolutely no practice of setting bowls of olive oil on the table so customers could munch on bread before the antipasti arrived. In fact, then and now, there may not be bread on the table until the main course is served." Anne Reavis - Tuscan Traveler

I think she might be wrong about the bread though. But then they may have just adapted to the needs of the tourists.

And finally there is the strawberry thing - which I have definitely seen blamed on Marcella Hazan. I have never actually tried this, but maybe I should - it does look, at the very least, interesting. Nigel Slater says that the strawberry ice-cream he made that included it was the best he had ever made.

"This vinegar grew into a byword for smugness and social oneupmanship, drizzled – invariably - the wincing verb – over a billion strawberries." Oliver Thring - The Guardian

And seeing those blobs and drizzles there, makes me think that in France on this holiday it was often used as a decorative thing on plates of delectable food - especially soup and fish. This example is a gazpacho - and I guess it would go well with that. It must be a dream thing for chefs these days.

It is said though that the Italians do not waste it on such fripperies, although an extremely small drizzle on your expensive ice cream might be an indulgent treat. Really though you should just taste it from a spoon and appreciate it for itself. If you can afford it. I saw one blog in which the author described a visit to one producer, where they lashed out on a very expensive bottle, but have not been able to bring themselves to produce it for guests - who, and what occasion is special enough?