Black Gold

What do you think of when you hear the expression "black gold"? Let me guess... oil? Hmmm... WRONG! :-) How long have people been drilling for oil? One hundred years? One hundred and fifty? Right here, in the area of Reggio Emilia and Modena and nowhere else in the world, a liquid has been made for THOUSANDS of years which is so exquisite and so beyond words that kings have been fighting over it. The earliest written mention of this particular liquid dates from the year 1047 when Holy Roman emperor Henry III ordered a silver case containing this liquid... clear evidence that even a thousand years before the invention of the internet and the iPad this liquid was already seriously famous far beyond the Emilian boundaries. 

Now, which liquid am I talking about, you might ask?... Haven't you got any clue yet?... It's black... dense, like a syrup and soooo sour-sweet... It's the true Balsamic vinegar! No, please, forget the wishy-washy black dishwashing water you can buy in your local supermarket! The biggest European factory of so-called "Balsamic" vinegar apparently lies in... Naples, more than 600km away from Reggio Emilia! And do you know where the biggest factory in the world is situated?... In China for heaven's sake! Imagine that! Balsamic vinegar made in China! No, no, no!!! Please, do not mistake this horrible product with the real stuff. In any case, once you've tasted the real Balsamic vinegar, you'll never settle for anything less again, I can assure you. 

Why am I telling you all of this? Christine is very active on Twitter, trying to make some publicity for our B&B. And after a while she became quite close with a whole bunch of other "Twitterers" from this region. So they decided to organise a big lunch in order to get to know eachother in person and obviously we wanted to be there as well. It was in fact held yesterday and for a venue they had chosen the vinegar factory of Andrea, one of the participants, in the Reggio Emilia valley. So apart from an excellent lunch and making a lot of new friends, we also got a very interesting visit of the vinegar factory. :-)

Balsamic vinegar can only be made with must from the Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, vines that only grow in this region. The grapes for the Balsamic vinegar come from dedicated vineyards, so no Lambrusco wine is made with them. The must is boiled for up to thirty hours, evaporating about thirty to seventy percent of the liquid, and is then left to ferment in these barrels, exclusively made from oak wood. 

After the fermentation process, the vinegar is moved upstairs, to smaller barrels and there it is laid to rest. These barrels are in fact open on top (covered by a piece of cloth to prevent dust or dirt getting in) because the liquid in the vinegar must be allowed to evaporate slowly over the years. 

After a year, the vinegar is then poured into a smaller barrel... and the year after into an even smaller barrel and so on. The liquid becomes ever more dense and concentrated. 

The whole process takes at least seven to eight years... for the lowest quality product! The better-quality vinegar is at least twelve to even twenty-five years old ("gold label")! The picture below is a 100ml flask of "gold-label", costing... €105! But I can assure you, we've had a small taste of this exceptional vinegar during desert (as a condiment to ice-cream!) and... it is well worth it! Really, it tastes like heaven!

Real Balsamic vinegar can not be sold in your local store in flasks bigger than 100ml and must have the inscription "tradizionale" ("traditional") on its label. And of course, only originates from this small area. If you ever get the chance to taste the real stuff, please don't hesitate. And for those of you who're considering a stay in our little B&B, we can arrange a factory visit! :-)  http://www.acetaiasangiacomo.com