Summer Salads and Balsamic Vinegar

I love olive oil but being a bit of a sweet tooth, my summer salads are simply just not the same without balsamic vinegar. And not just any will do.

We carry several that you can get here at WFM or at any good specialty food store that knows their stuff. Villa Manodori Organic Balsamic Vinegar  is thick, rich and sweet–it reminds me of an expensive tradizionale balsamic–plus it’s affordable for a high end condiment. A little indeed goes a long way–I’ll have a bottle on our kitchen table for months as all I need is a tad on my greens every night.  We have friends that swear by this stuff and all I have to do is to bring them a bottle for a birthday or a party and you’d think I’d just bought them a new car.  I’m not joking. 

Another one of my favorites is a direct import that Amelia found while traveling through Italy last fall which is Farmacia Oro Balsamic Vinegar Di Modena (red label). Another higher end condiment (but value oriented as you don’t use a lot) it comes in a great European glass bottle with a cork top for pouring–just what you’d expect from a small family operation in Italy. It’s not as thick and syrupy as Villa but it’ clean, sweet flavor rivals any other I’ve tried.  They call it their middle of the road but I’d swear it was their flagship.

You might think balsamic vinegar is related to wine vinegar, but it’s an entirely different beast. It’s origin is from grapes no doubt–but from grape must or the juice of the grape. Briefly, here’s the process: Farmers grow the grapes (like Trebbiano and Lambrusco, to name a few), leaving them on the vine until the last possible moment to ensure great sweetness; then they press them and cook them down to a thick syrup; then the whole concoction is aged (the good stuff)  for more than 12 years in real wooden barrels made of oak, cherry, juniper and the like. The fermentation and aging is done, unlike with wine, open to the air to achieve even more concentration of flavors, and combined with the blending of older and younger vinegars in the process results in a perfectly balanced marriage of mellow, fruity-sweet vinegar and deep woodsy and spicy notes from the barrels.

Might you now better appreciate a 40 dollar bottle of vinegar?  Sitting and aging for 10 years or more isn’t a cheap process…time is money.  In my mind though, it’s still the best value for my salad.  Traditional salad dressings have all sorts of bizarre ingredients and ounce for ounce are just as expensive as some great balsamic vinegars. You pour dressing, you drizzle balsamic.  Drizzling a little Villa Manodori on my greens or on my fresh local veggies this time of year wakes up my senses and balanced with a great extra virgin olive oil makes an amazing simple dressing for the summer or any other time of the year.  Eat well!

Patrick