quality aged balsamic vinegar- tips

[shootingstar]

I would like to buy a bottle, not overly expensive but a higher grade of balsamic vinegar as a supplement to Christmas presents for dearie.

How do I assess the brands from Italy or can anyone recommend some brands? Some of the prices are abit high.

We have found balsamic vinegar just handy to have and provides a great flavouring agent for homemade salad dressings or just bread dipping as a simple appetizer.

[Blueberry]

Find a gourmet store with a knowledgeable person? Seriously, many will let you taste and you can develop a relationship much like a LBS.

Next time I'm at my local place, I'll ask:)

CA

[michelem]

shootingstar,

Not sure if you have Trader Joe's in Canada, but they have a nice selection of a whole variety of vinegars. They make lovely gifts (we received a gift basket of a variety along with a "cookbook" for them).

[buddha_bellies]

I find the staff at Gourmet Warehouse on Hasting by Clark very knowledgeable. And they have a pretty good selection of balsamic there. Give them a try.

[shootingstar]

True that Gourmet place is good place for cheffy stuff and advice. (except the Asian groceries are too expensive)

I'm hoping for inside knowledge by TE member here...it would be the equivalent of someone asking how to assess/buy quality rice. I most certainly would have an opinion about different types and grades of rice..after eating and buying the stuff for several decades from different stores.

[Grog]

I still haven't found a store in Vancouver where there are olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings, unfortunately. But...

As a rule of thumb: cheap is usually not good. A 500 ml bottle should start at $10.

We have a bottle of Colavita opened right now and it's much nicer than the previous one we had, which I didn't pay enough for.

Can't help more than that. In Montreal I used to know a lot more about them, there was a store with tastings 5 minutes walking from my place. Those days are gone...

[Eden]

True that Gourmet place is good place for cheffy stuff and advice. (except the Asian groceries are too expensive)

I'm hoping for inside knowledge by TE member here...it would be the equivalent of someone asking how to assess/buy quality rice. I most certainly would have an opinion about different types and grades of rice..after eating and buying the stuff for several decades from different stores.

hmmmm I'm not sure I have much advice about specific brands of balsamic. General advice is to look for brands that are produced in Modena or Reggio Emilia Italy (the only places allowed to produce and call their product true balsamico - very much like wine made everywhere besides Champagne the product has to be called sparkling wine. The names to look for are Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia)and the older the vinegar, generally the better the quality... it has to be aged at least 12 years to be true balsamico. Beware - "Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" is not a true balsamic - its a wine vinegar that thickeners and colorings have been added to, so that it is more like a real balsamic.

but I'd love to hear about buying quality rice..... For caucasians my husband and I consume rather a lot of it (we buy short grain in 50lb bags... and I actually have at least 4 different kinds in the pantry at the moment...jasmine, basmati, calrose and arborio... and I think a few little packets of specialty rice, black, sweet, etc)

[OakLeaf]

I've never actually been willing to spring for Tradizionale balsamico. At prices beginning at $1 per milliliter, I can't justify it to myself.

Since I've never tasted tradizionale, I can't comment on the differences, but I know there are a number of less expensive choices out there that I've enjoyed perfectly well. What I have on my table right now is Fondo Montebello "Old." It depends on what you consider "overly expensive" whether that would fall within your guidelines or not. I've also enjoyed Fattoria Estense Gran Riserva #12. (The numbers each brand uses do not necessarily indicate the aging time, but a higher number is always a higher grade.)

Tradizionale is not used on salads. A few drops on cheeses, roasted vegetables, soups, risotti and desserts goes a long way. Middle grades are not too thick for salad dressings, and we do use it that way at home (again, just a few drops, NOT pre-mixed), but that's definitely an Americanized use.

When I'm looking to try a new brand, I do two things: (1) swirl the bottle around and make sure the vinegar coats the sides pretty thickly - that gives you an idea of how syrupy it is; and (2) if it has a US label, which they're all supposed to but not all of them do, check the sugar content per serving - in general you want it to be pretty high. Then at some point I just make the plunge. It's a fairly large commitment since a bottle can last the two of us months or a year, and it's way too expensive to just discard if we don't like a brand. Just like wines, each has a unique flavor.


I'd love to hear about buying rice, too!

[Biciclista]

I'm with Oakleaf. How much do you want to spend? Find a pretty bottle.
What you're buying is old vinegar with some sugar added. I've had the cheap and the expensive, and when you toss it into a salad, there's not that much difference. But it's a gift, and it would be tacky to put a bottle of safeway brand in a basket as a gift.

[Grog]

I've had the cheap and the expensive, and when you toss it into a salad, there's not that much difference.

Don't know about salad, but for dipping bread, it makes a BIG difference whether it's quality or not!

[alpinerabbit]

We have one cheap bottle for salad (maybe 8$ for 500ml), one a little more expensive bottle for "nice" (maybe 20$ for 100ml) and a "reduction" for fancy decorations, but that is sort of cheapo too. It's a convenient squirt bottle and we squirt that over steaks too.

[OakLeaf]

I'm with Oakleaf. How much do you want to spend? Find a pretty bottle.
What you're buying is old vinegar with some sugar added. I've had the cheap and the expensive, and when you toss it into a salad, there's not that much difference. But it's a gift, and it would be tacky to put a bottle of safeway brand in a basket as a gift.

Eek, that's not what I said! There's an ENORMOUS difference between cheapola (nasty red wine vinegar) and what I'm getting for $40-80 per 250 ml. It's WELL worth the price, and it's NOT for salads.

I don't know that there ISN'T a difference between what I buy, and the real stuff which costs three times as much, I just don't know what it is. For all I know Tradizionale is worth the price. It's just one of those things I can't justify to myself... for the same reasons I couldn't justify buying a Seven with full DA when I returned to cycling. Not at ALL because it's not worth the price, but because there's just a limit to how much I want to spend for certain things. I think that's what shootingstar was asking too! Maybe the brands I recommended are within her price range, maybe they aren't, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again.

[shootingstar]

Thx, so much for all this info. I guess it'll be not too expensive ie..$20-$25 After all, it's just another gift add-on to several other things..

Gives me lots to make notes and ponder :)

For now, on assessing rice quality, each person is different. Due to need to cut down my rice consumption, I eat less rice but want quality. I was truly pissed off that I bought the wrong type for myself in a 10 kg. bag..it was short grain a touch more on the sticky/glutinous side. Which I dislike. Something that tastes sticky rice to me, tastes poor quality (except for sushi and for glutinous rice packets of goodies steamed in bamboo/lotus leaves) but that's just probably my Cantonese cooking style snobbishness. Big mistake to buy bag that is not transparent and a brand that I wasn't totally familiar with.

My fav is long grain white rice, even length, not broken grains and not sticky/glutinous. Basmati rice is nice but it doesn't suit for my taste for everyday or frequent eating. I view basmati rice more for certain occasions. It wasn't part of my cuisine upbringing via parents which probably influences my preference.

I only use sushi rice for sushi.

Have a bag of red rice which I haven't opened yet. Heard from a Sri Lankan colleague about how he prepared it. Need to ask for instruction again.

We will buy more arborio rice..we are thinking of maybe paella during Christmas holidays. Next day after our spaetzle stuff on CHristmas Eve.

[Biciclista]

We really love the red cargo rice. It is pretty and tastes good. The other rice we like a lot is Jasmine rice. I don't like sticky rice so much.
Believe it or not, I don't like the Italian rices so much, they seem to be overly processed.

Oakleaf sorry, I wasn't comparing safeway brand with the top of the line, i was more thinking of the middle of the road brands, because like you, i can't justify 40 bucks for it.

[DebTX]

is a great resource for this type of thing.

Here's the link for their balsamic vinegar testing: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tastetests/overview.asp?docid=10133

On quite a few occasions, when buying cookwear and gourmet foods, they've helped me find an economical solution. Sometimes those pricey choices aren't the best!

[alpinerabbit]

mmmh I just had some of our austrian (styrian) pumpkin seed oil over my pasta, ever had that? it's good with balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing too...

*fingerlickin'*

[Reesha]

This is an old thread, but I'll bump it.

My secret place to buy the really expensive bottles of balsamic and extra virgin olive oil is TJ Maxx, Marshalls or Homegoods. Best balsamic I've ever had was Napa Valley Harvest. It was thicker than blood! I think it was barrel aged for four years or something. Mmmmm.

[papaver]

I'm with Oakleaf. How much do you want to spend? Find a pretty bottle.
What you're buying is old vinegar with some sugar added. I've had the cheap and the expensive, and when you toss it into a salad, there's not that much difference. But it's a gift, and it would be tacky to put a bottle of safeway brand in a basket as a gift.

That's just it! A good balsamico vinegar doesn't have caramel or sugar added! But those are really expensive (over 50$ for a 250 ml bottle). A good alternative is Saporoso. http://www.acetaiamalpighi.it/saporoso.htm