Italian Food Experience: Part Three - Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena

The third and final part of the 'Italian Days' tour was a trip to see a balsamic vinegar maker.

It was tucked away in the attic of a house sitting in the country house and the story goes that the family that moved in twenty odd years ago discovered a set of balsamic barrels sitting in the attic that had been aged for over 100 years!

The balsamic that I had always know was, well, vinegar! This balsamic was so different, it has definitley ruined the cheap option for me now.  Traditional balsamic doesnt undergo alcoholic fermentation like factory produced balsamic as the yeast is deactivated before fermentation starts, instead the balsamic uses its sugars to ferment resulting in a sticky sweet liquid that is very potent!

I had traditional balsamic that was more than twice my age poured over ricotta from the Parmesan factory we had been to earlier in the day!

I bought a little bottle to bring back to Australia so a few lucky may get to try some with some gelato when I get back.

The attic was very small and spent most of my time hunched over so apologies for the lack of photos, you can check out this website

http://www.balsamico.it/ing_adsl/home.html

Its in English and pretty interesting!!