Perhaps you've noticed the recent newspaper ads for something called the "vinegar diet," which promises that you can lose weight without cutting calories or going hungry. The hitch is you have to drink vinegar several times daily. I haven't tried the regimen but I suspect it would sour me even further on dieting. Unless, however, I could substitute that most un-vinegar-like of vinegars, the balsamic variety.
Authentic balsamic vinegar, a conspicuous exception to the old adage that you can catch more flies with honey, is as highly prized by gourmet cooks as caviar, truffles, or saffron -- and in terms of price, in the same category.
A three-ounce bottle of the very best balsamic vinegar can fetch as much as $500 USD. Thus cookbook author Diane Seed reports that when her house was burglarized a few years ago, she knew the thieves were gentlemen of discernment -- they took a bottle of her best balsamic with them. No wonder that in Italy, where it's used as aperitif, it's also part of a wedding dowry.
The origin of balsamic vinegar is impossible to pin down precisely, though clearly it's a recent development as far as vinegars go. Vinegar's origin is so ancient that there are no less than eight references to it in the Bible.
Genuine balsamic vinegar is an artisanal made from grapes, chiefly the trebbiano variety, cultivated in the provinces of Modena and Reggio in Northern Italy. No where in the world of cuisine is there a greater difference the real thing and the imitation than when it comes to balsamic vinegar. By contrast, the disparity between margarine and butter is trivial.
But whether it's inexpensive or costly, it's a shame to relegate the balsamic vinegar you have at your disposal just to the salad bowl. It can add subtle nuances to a variety of foods. Even though it's vinegar, as Jackie Gleason would've said, how sweet it is.
