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  • From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
  • To: "labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org" <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [OFEX] balsamic vinegar
  • Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2005 16:05:16 -0400


Hi,

I think I have a step by step process for balsamic vinegar. If you are familir with winemaking, this bare bones process will make sense.

I believe the below process can be adapted to make homemade balsamic vinegar, without the battery of wooden casks. Roasted wood blocks (or sticks/staves) of oak, hickory, and chestnut could be made and used over and over again, just like the barrels. Inserting each type of wood into the vinegar for 3 months at a time. My guess is that a "stufa" would speed up the process. Although nothing replaces time and aging. A stufa is simply a storage area with higher heat levels. A small stufa can be made with a carboard box, and a small lamp with a 60 watt lightbulb. A stufa is used to make port wine thick and syrupy by evaporation.

Temperature variations can be achieved through different sized light bulbs, to no lightbulb at all. Or it can be placed in the attic like the Italians do.

"Mother of vinegar" can be bought, or collected from cider vinegar production; http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5346.html

By combining the above web page on vinegar and winemaking skills it is feasible.

In Italy, the really good balsamic vinegars are not used in cooking, they are sipped like a cordial.

It will be a small amount of work, but worth a try. If I can make wine, I can make balsamic vinegar. Perfect time for the attempt as I have lots of grapes to harvest.

Later, Tom

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Making balsamic vinegar takes a lot of time, many barrels, and a little mystery

Genuine balsamic vinegar results from two fermentations: alcoholic and acetic. The first is a slow fermentation of mosto cotto (cooked grape juice); this produces alcohol and leaves some sugar. What follows is a second fermentation, in which alcohol created by the yeast is further transformed into acetic acid by aceto (or vinegar) bacteria. The residual sugar, in combination with the acetic acid, accounts for the sweet-sour makeup of balsamic vinegar. One mystery of balsamic vinegar making is the ability of yeast and vinegar bacteria, normally antagonistic to one another, to exist side by side in the developing mosto cotto. This coexistence has never been duplicated in the pure environment of a laboratory.

1. The grapes, traditionally Trebbiano, as well as Lambrusco or other lesser-known varietals, are picked as ripe as weather permits. The grapes are gently crushed, pressed, and passed through a coarse sieve, the juice left to settle briefly before being transferred to a large open kettle.

2. Impurities are combed away and discarded. The juice is simmered between 180° and 195°F for 24 to 42 hours. (If it gets too hot, the sugar will caramelize, blocking fermentation, and an unpleasant, scorched taste will result.)

3. Reduced by roughly half, the mosto cotto (cooked must) is removed from the kettle, cooled, and transferred to holding tanks for fermentation and then to barrels.

(I would use standard winemaking process to ferment the mosto cotto. I assume the "mother of vinegar" is added to fermented mosto cotto once in the barrels)

4. Wooden barrels are essential to balsamic vinegar's flavor. Built in decreasing volumes from about 100 to 10 liters, the casks are arranged in a series called a battery. Most producers use a variety of woods, including oak, chestnut, mulberry, ash, cherry, juniper, and sometimes other fruitwoods. Each cask is filled to about 80 percent of its capacity, and porous cloth is draped over the large, square opening. The large opening encourages evaporation, feeds the aceto bacteria which need oxygen to convert alcohol to vinegar, and guarantees a concentrated result over time.

Environment is an indispensable aspect of the process. Traditionally, barrels are stored in a clean, drafty attic so the vinegar is exposed to wide fluctuations in temperature (in the Emilia-Romagna, often-torrid summers alternate with frigid winters). Balsamic vinegar is a living substance responsive to the seasons.

5. Topping-up of the barrels happens once a year. In general,
starting with the smallest barrel, as much vinegar as is necessary to restore the previous year's level (which decreased through evaporation) is taken from an adjacent larger cask; the level of this cask is in turn restored by a nearby cask, and so on down the line. The largest cask is topped with the fermented, acidified mosto cotto of the new vintage. The vinegar grows denser as it ages and travels down the series, while the various woods contribute aromatic complexity. The vinegar is eventually drawn from the smallest cask
in the battery.
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  • [OFEX] Balsamic vinegar, Thomas Olenio, 09/08/2005
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