What is so special about balsamic vinegar?

And how does it differ from other vinegars?


I've seen recipes that call for balsamic vinegar before (tartar sauce was the latest one) and I wondered why another type could not be used.


Thanks in advance.

and some of the acid has converted to sugar. The oldest Balsalmics are in fact rather syrupy. It's sweeter than regular vinegar. Balsalmic goes will with some fruit desserts for example.

Here's a link - the first that came up on a simple google search:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/balsamic.htm

Balsamic is aged. Some for decades. The most aged is unlike any vinegar you've ever tasted and is consumed as often by sipping from a shot glass as anything else.

The aging eliminates almost all the sharpness of the acidity. It is sweet. Older is sweeter.

Lower cost (quality) balsamic can be used wherever normal vinegar is used. But the reverse is not true.

I'd advise spending a couple of bucks for a cheap balsamic, just to get an idea of it. You can get a low cost bottle for less than $5 ...... and you can spend upwards of $500 to $1000 for the very best. I mention that only to suggest that the lowest cost stuff is but a hint at what the really good stuff is. That being said, the low cost stuff is what we use day in and day out.

In Florence, Italy, I was introduced to "sipping" extraordinary old, old balsamic.
I was immediately hooked.

simmer it over low heat for half an hour or so, reduce it to a syrup. It becomes a cheap balsamic you CAN use over ice cream, thick and sweet. It's also great drizzled over veggies, fruit, anything your heart desires.

I keep some in a ketchup squeeze bottle in the fridge at all times.

I don't know the science behind it, but it's like no other.

I *LOVE* basalmic drizzled onto very GOOD and HOT french fries (similar to what you put on fish & chips).

I haven't really explored the vinegar realm as much as I should, but I can tell you that basalmic has a flavor all it's own - you can dip bread in it, you can put it on fries, and of course vinagrettes, it's just sligherly fermented (I believe), aged, and overall yummy.

Within that class, there are connoiseurs (sp?) of balasmics, just as there are of vinegars of general, and olive oils, etc. I don't go that far, but there are times when nothing but a balsamic will do.

Try it - it's a very different flavor, and quite yum.

Is to pour a little balmasmic and extra virgin olive oil onto a plate, grind some black pepper in it, then dip some French or Cuban bread in it.

I have tried them in Europe, and off the grocery shelf here, and because I am just a cheap peasant, I have made my own, some Burgandy, some brown vinegar, with half water, and either sugar or sweetners.
This should make a conniseur shudder, but I like it and thats all that counts.

on edit: re the OP-- balsamic vinegar in tartar sauce? That sounds vile....