We celebrated US National Ice Cream month, Gustiamo style, using both traditional balsamic vinegar from Modena and EV olive oil.
A few drops of the traditional stuff from Modena can go a long way when it comes to balsamic.
The taste of our Ca' dal Non Traditional Balsamic Vinegar over vanilla or strawberry gelato is sweet with an aged savory essence of the Acetaia's wooden battery.
While this year's olives are ripening on Italy's trees, we are finishing off last years EV olive oil for dessert! We recommend a scoop of vanilla gelato and a teaspoon of our Sicilian Pianogrillo Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Vincenzo Gucciardo's Sea Salt from Trapani, Sicily, sprinkled on top. The combination of creamy vanilla and fruity EV olive oil is reminiscent of the divine mozzarella/EV olive oil combination. To make this dessert even more Sicilian, and arguably more delicious, eat it on a brioche!
Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale of Modena is certified by the Consortium. They taste the precious liquid and attest that it has the qualities of a (at least) 12 year old or 25 year old balsamico tradizionale. The consorzio only certifies these 2. The first is Ivory Label, the second is Gold Label.
Several "acetaie" (vinegars families/establishments), including our Ca Dal Non, promote their vinegars as much older than the 25 years assigned by the consortium. They promote their vinegars as 50 years old, 100 years old, etc. It doesn't mean that the liquid is exactly 50 years old or 100 yrs old or that it was kept in the little bottles for 100 years! The Consortium was not even born 100 years ago!!!
It means that the liquid comes from batteries of barrels that are at least 50 yrs old or 100 yrs old. Since only a little liquid is taken from the last [smallest] barrel every year (remember that there are at least three barrels - descending in size - and the aceto balsamico tradizionale is taken from the last smaller barrel only - never the total amount, only a small part of it), you can say that some of the liquid originates from more than 100 year ago. It's a process that started more than 100 years before.
The battery of barrels of our extra extra gold Demetria is older than 100 years, since it was started by Mariangela's great grandfather, whose name was Alfonso. The production of these extra extra gold balsamico tradizionale is very limited - only a very few units each year. These old barrels give a much different depth and flavor to the vinegar.
Our Demetria, aceto balsamico tradizionale >100 yrs, is aged in a battery of 7 barrels which are older than 100 years. An 8th finishing barrell was added many years ago sorry, memory is lost there). The wood of this barrel is wild juniper which is a very rare tree that has not been found for many years. Cutting it in the mountains has been forbidden by law. The wild juniper wood gives the vinegar a very specific herbaious/resin taste and aperfect balance with the sour and sweet notes of the traditional balsamico. The end result will stupefy anybody who tastes it.
Michael White dislikes ubiquitous industrial balsamic vinegar and says there is only one REAL balsamic (left). He recently said to the WSJ: "I can do without all the different types of balsamic vinegars. There's only one real balsamic, and that takes years to age. A sample is taken to the town of Spilamberto, where the consortium is, and they test it and you can only make so many bottles. The huge commercial market in America is all about packaging, and it's caramel color and red wine vinegar and they mix it together with sugar. I also can't stand drizzling with balsamic, it's totally annoying."
We couldn't agree more! Our Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale from Modena is made by Ca Dal Non (grandpa's house, in Italian) and it is certified by the Consorzio of Aceto Balsamico di Modena. The aceto balsamico tradizionale of Modena MUST be bottled in a small (100ml) bottle of the same shape and the bottle MUST be in a box (see picture on the right). If your Aceto Balsamico of Modena does not come in this bottle and in this box, it is not the real thing and Michael White would be very annoyed at you! So would we.
We love Michael White! He is as opinionated as we are and he hates cheap industrial balsamic vinegar such as those you typically find in supermarkets and specialty stores. Michael White, in an interview in the Wall Street Journal, says: "I can do without all the different types of balsamic vinegars. The huge commercial market in America is all about packaging, and it's caramel color and red wine vinegar and they mix it together with sugar. I also can't stand drizzling with balsamic, it's totally annoying.
There's only one real balsamic, and that takes years to age. A sample is taken to the town of Spilamberto, where the consortium is, and they test it and you can only make so many bottles. "
The real Balsamic Vinegar that Michael refers to is called Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale and Gustiamo never carried anything but. Grazie, Michael, we could not have said it clearer.
Balsamico! is a wonderful book by food author Pamela Sheldon Johns. A "must have", if you are into authentic italian ingredients. Nothing to do with the balsamico sold in supermarkets, which is a cheap colored dark brown liquid full of chemicals. It's a book about "aceto balsamico tradizionale", a revered treasure, so important to Italian tradition that it is regulated by a very complex law and can be made only in Modena or Reggio Emilia. In her book, Pamela chooses and features only a couple of BEST "aceto balsamico tradizionale" producers and Mariangela Montanari of Gustiamo's Ca dal Non is among them!
On the topic of Acetaia Ca Dal Non, a while ago I happened to notice this lovely and funny post (click here for the post): A young American kid goes all the way to Modena to visit the Acetaia Ca dal Non and buy his father a bottle of the precious liquid for his birthday. It's a beautiful place to visit, as Erik says and his pictures show. But, if you don't plan to go there soon, buy the "aceto balsamico tradizionale" made by Mariangela @ gustiamo.com and read everything about it on Pamela's book. What a perfect gift combination, this would be. Enjoy!!!
Camille continues her culinary adventures with Gustiamo, goes to visit Mariangela of Acetaia La Cà dal Nôn and discovers the wonderful world of aceto balsamico tradizionale. She is so inspired by the product that is older than she is, that her prose is not only very informative but also poetic! Grazie Camille!
Balsamic vinegar is definitely one of the things that first pops into my head when I think of typical Italian food. My favorite after-work snack is fresh bread dipped in olive oil with a splash of balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico in Italian). Or even better, bruschetta al pomodoro with tomatoes marinated in vinegar. But until coming to Italy, my kitchen contained only run-of-the-mill, industrially produced “balsamic vinegar” from Trader Joe’s. But after my recent visit to La Cà dal Nôn, I now know what I’ve been missing and I don’t think I can ever go back (in fact, now that my Italian adventure is drawing to a close, I don’t know how I’m going to survive in an American grocery store. I might break down crying in the middle of the cereal aisle)!
To visit La Cà dal Nôn and experience true “aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena” (and there really is such a thing as “true” in this case – more on that in a minute) I had to travel to Vignola, a small town between Bologna and Modena, famous for its cherries and, of course, its aceto balsamico. After being picked up from the train station, Zac and I were brought to the Montanari family home for a wonderful lunch and tour of the family acetaia (side note: only producers of aceto balsamic tradizionale can be called an acetaia; industrial producers are known as “acetificio”). The family has been making vinegar since 1883, when the great-grandfather of Mariangela, who with her father now runs La Cà dal Nôn, decided to begin making traditional balsamic vinegar for his family. It wasn’t until about 15 years ago that they began selling their vinegar, but the name, La Cà dal Nôn, means “The House of the Grandfather” and is a tribute to the family’s long history of and passion for making aceto balsamico tradizionale.
The decision to produce balsamic vinegar as it has been done for centuries must be one of passion – the amount of time, energy, care, and patience that goes into each and every bottle is truly impressive. But it was immediately obvious how much Mariangela cares about her family’s product: she knew important dates in the history of vinegar, the weight of balsamic vinegar in relation to water, how many bottles they produce every year, and so on. And there’s so much to keep track of! First and foremost, the grapes have a large impact on the finished product. Mariangela uses trebbiano modenese grapes (which are white, something I would have never guessed) along with other local grape varieties from the family vineyard. The grapes are harvested as late as possible, normally in the end of September, so that the sugar content is high. The grapes are then pressed and the resulting juice (the “must”) is cooked for around thirty-six hours (depending on the sugar content of the grapes) in a metal pot over a direct flame to evaporate the water and caramelize the sugars.
After the cooking process ends, the must is poured into the first barrel in the series to begin the fermentation, acidification, and aging process. Immediately upon stepping into the aging rooms, an intensely sweet yet acidic smell of vinegar hits you. The small rooms are crowded with lines and lines of barrels, each starting with a fairly large barrel and ending with one just larger in circumference than a basketball. The liquid is first poured into the largest of barrels and a percentage is moved each cycle to the next smallest barrel, until reaching the smallest on the line, thereby finishing the process (in other words, the vinegar you buy is taken only from the smallest barrel). These “batteria” (all between 5 and 15 barrels in length) are where the magic takes place: Mariangela explained that the first few barrels, where the newest must is poured, is where the fermentation takes place. The barrels in the middle are mainly where the acidification, or vinegarization, occurs, and the last few barrels are mostly for aging. The vinegar thickens throughout the process, hence the decreasing size. But it’s not just about what’s in the barrel that counts – the barrels themselves have a large impact on the finished product.
The series can only contain wood native to the Modena region, such as chestnut, cherry, oak, and mulberry, and the order of the barrels alters the taste of the vinegar (the vinegar finished in a barrel made of cherry, for example, is sweeter). A lot of forethought go into making a “family” of barrels, and as soon as the family is conditioned they should always be used together. A lot goes into conditioning the barrels – it takes at least a year and a half of “washing” a new barrel with highly acidic vinegar before it is ready for use. For this reason, the older the barrels, the better the product, and La Cà dal Nôn is still using batteria from the early 1900’s.
The care that goes into each batch of vinegar is remarkable. Not only is the aging process extensive (the youngest vinegar must be aged at least twelve years and the extra vecchio - old - vinegar must be aged at least for twenty-five years – it was strange trying something even older than I am!), Mariangela and her father spend long hours tasting and altering each batch of vinegar, so that by the time it is removed and bottled it has been taste-tested and adjusted at least a dozen times. It takes an informed palate to know what needs changing, and Mariangela has been spending time amongst the batteria since she could walk.
Yes, aceto balsamico tradizionale is expensive, but I have no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most time-intensive, difficult food products out there. And it’s worth it – the taste is so unique I can’t even describe it. Maybe most notable is that this vinegar is so well balanced that it’s best appreciated by the spoon full – there’s none of that face-contorting sourness about it. Instead, it’s a burst of flavor that is entirely unique. I’m so, so glad that there are people like Mariangela who love their product so intensely that they can spend years making it perfect. It’s an unforgettable experience to taste La Cà dal Nôn’s vinegar, and I’m really looking forward to taking this piece of Italy at its finest home with me!
