Balsamic vinegar has an original refined taste, due to which the dish will sound different, and guests will thank you for the warm welcome and ask for recipes. You can season them and marinade for poultry and meat, and a dish of seafood, and a vegetable and even a fruit salad.
History
In 1046 the first mention of balsamic vinegar, while balsamic as a gift was presented from the Marquis Bonifacio to the German Emperor Henry II. It really was a gift worthy of the king, because at that time only the richest people could offer it, sometimes even a small barrel of vinegar could serve as a dowry.
Curious facts
The ancient name "balsamico" indicates to us that in ancient times this vinegar was used only as a healing balm, which was famous for its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effect. When Italy was devoured by the plague, Lucrezia Borgia was constantly treated with balsamic vinegar. But all the famous Giacomo Casanova used this elixir as an aphrodisiac.
Preparation
Balsamic vinegar is prepared much more than wine or apple. First of grape sorts of trebbiano-sour, small and green squeeze the juice, and then boil it until it acquires a thick consistency of brown. Thus, it produces grape must, where wine vinegar is gradually added. This is done to activate and speed up the fermentation process, after which the wort is poured into the pimples. To give his vinegar a multitude of tastes, take barrels from different types of trees, which saturate it with its aromas and at the same time take away excess moisture from it. Initially, in the first stages of cooking, the wort is insisted in small barrels from the oatmeal, after which some of this vinegar is added to the one that ripens the medium-sized vine from cherry and chestnut.
The third stage of preparation presupposes that part of the vinegar, which was infused in the middle barrel, is added to the large-sized barrel with a pronounced sweet aromatic wood. Like the noble gourmets of the Middle Ages, producers of vinegar do not disclose the full list of spices that are included in balsamic, and each adds a variety of spices.
And only after twelve years of age, a young balsamic is ready for use, but "mature" vinegar is ready only after thirty, and in some cases even in forty years.
A real, high-quality balsamic vinegar should have the word "tradizionale" in its name, if, of course, it is prepared according to all the rules: you can call it Aceto BalsamicoTradizionale di Reggio Emilia (in translation: traditional balsamic vinegar from the province of Emilia-Romagna) or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Forward: traditional balsamic vinegar from Modena).
If vinegar is made in Modena, then it must be clogged with lids of different colors, depending on its maintenance. If it is aged 12 years, then its lid has a cream color, if more than 25 years - gold. If the vinegar is cooked in Emilia-Romagna, 12-year-old vinegar has a red label, if it is aged 18 years, then silver, and if more than 25 years - gold.
100 ml of young vinegar costs about forty euros, and mature - 70 euros (producer price).
There are also cheaper options, but it is worth noting that there is a lot of wine vinegar in them and they are kept much less than they are. But despite this, among these vinegars it is possible to find quite good tastes, which can give the dishes a refined novelty.
Use
Naturally, balsamic vinegar is most commonly used in Italian cuisine. You can find a balsamic note, although they add it to the dishes quite a bit.
If you mix olive oil with balsamic, you can get a great dressing for salad, which will have a pleasant, soft and delicate taste. Also, such a dressing can be served as a separate sauce so that it can be cooked in bread, this is a great start to a good hearty meal.
Balsamic vinegar is an excellent ingredient in the preparation of marinade for meat, vegetables and poultry - the taste is extremely mild. Seafood with the addition of balsamic is just a find, for example, it is possible to cook rice with scalmars or salad with shrimps and avocado. If you add vinegar to meat, it will get a completely different taste: a particularly good result can be obtained by sprinkling meat and meat in the process of frying.
An excellent classic is a combination of balsamic with cheese salads, for example, a salad of tomatoes, leaves of a green salad and soft cheese.
Extraordinary of all combinations is a combination of balsamic and strawberry. Strawberries are sprinkled with powdered sugar sprinkled with balsamic vinegar, after which the arugula is spread on the leaves, allowed to stand for about twenty minutes and served to the table.
Polzabalzamicheskogo vinegar
In the composition of balsamic vinegar, you can see a number of micro imacrogens, organic acids, pectins, polyphenols and other very useful and necessary substances.
Balsamic vinegar with polyphenols, tianin and anthocyanins, so modern cosmetic companies-manufacturers actively use it for the manufacture of skin care products. Because of its useful composition, it significantly slows down the aging process of the skin. Moreover, balsamic is an excellent antiseptic.
Vredbalsamicheskogo vinegar
Like any other vinegar, balsamico in any case, you can not use if you have high acidity of the stomach, and of course, if you have an individual intolerance to this product.
At the moment, many people already know how much balsamic vinegar is useful, so they are trying in every possible way to reduce the price of this product in order to increase demand for it on the market. Because of this, add to such non-existent components as caramelized sugar, wine vinegar, artificial flavorings, grape must concentrate, thickeners and other not very good additives. Of course, they have a non-tangible benefit that they could give to our body, so conversations with the environment of balsamic vinegar are quite valid if it is a cheap substitute. Remember that a quality product will cost normal money.
Balsamico is the elixir of longevity
Traditional balsamic vinegar is different in its calorie content, in 100 grams it contains an average of 88 calories, but, even so, no one doubts its benefits. 100 grams of balsamico contains 70 mg of potassium, 20 mg of phosphorus, 12 g of calcium, iron, vitamins C, A, B1, B2, B3. Due to polyphenols, balsamic is used as antioxidants that can treat cancer, heart disease, moreover , it is able to suppress the growth of pathogenic microflora. As already described, olive oil in combination with balsamic vinegar forms an excellent salad dressing, but it is worth mentioning that this dressing is an excellent means for reducing cholesterol. And if you consume balsamic vinegar in combination with sindul, pearl barley, cinnamon, berries, fatty fish, soy protein and whole grains, the lipid content will decrease, the blood pressure will decrease, the risk of blood clots will decrease, cognition and memory will improve, and the risk of inflammatory diseases will decrease.