Balsamic vinegar recommendations?

The Sandbox General
1

I don’t live super close to anywhere I might be able to sample them.

Looking for a sweet, aged vinegar - something I could eat with fruit, for example. I forgot to look at the label of my last bottle before I tossed it. It was around $30-$40 at my former cheese shop and hit the spot. The ‘real deal’ stuff that’s got the seal of approval from whoever the hell does that are $100+ and I don’t think I’m ready to go all Jas here.

Sur la Table and Williams Sonoma have some around the $40-$50 mark, anybody tried these? I looked at Amazon and some of theirs have good reviews but when I Google the brand, all of the top links are to Amazon, like maybe a proprietary label? No clue what I’m doing here, but the cheese thread has me hankering for charcuterie and balsamic would be a nice addition.

2

Wholefoods? Trader Joe’s?

3

Was there anything unique about the bottle you had before? I’ve bought some good balsamic vinegar in the past but it had a very distinct bottle, as I recall.

4

real balsamic vinegar is a specialty process where the vinegar is aged in progressively smaller vessels over the aging process. This is what you want, but it is pricey.

Lots of “imposter” balsamic vinegars are widely available. These are mostly just red wine vinegar with caramel coloring added.

I would say beware of $50 vinegar. You are not getting $100 vinegar for that price. You are probably getting $5 vinegar that is drastically over priced.

At least read the wikipedia pages on the topic.

5

Neither are super close, I’m living that ‘po life.

6

It wasn’t super fancy or anything, but I’m struggling to recall specifics.

7

I agree with your post, which is why I posted here, maybe someone else has done the legwork!

The last bottle lasted like 3 years, maybe instead of going down a rabbit hole I should just pay for the good stuff. Shrug.

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8

The problem is the good stuff tastes so much better, you end up finishing a bottle in a month.

The last “decent” bottle I had (and for me I’m talking like $65, not $100) lasted me a few weeks because suddenly my salads and reductions started tasting so much better

9

Oh, and I went back to using the cheap stuff because it still tastes pretty good to me and I’m not spending as much on it.

10

The owner of the True Balsamic shop did a pretty thorough walk-through on Reddit. I’m inclined to pop for the 100ml of this for $55.

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11

I keep the cheap stuff on hand for salads and cooking. The good stuff is for fruit, cheese, and ice cream.

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12

Mmmm. This thread has me wanting a nice basil tomato salad.

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13

I broke down and also bought some. THIS time I will control myself…

14

Did you buy the $55 bottle I linked?

15

Uhhhh yeah I got all three.

I have an issue with hyperfixation. This seems to be my current one.

16

You fell right into my trap, please post reviews once they’ve arrived and let me know which one to buy. :joy:

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17

I’ve never tried on ice cream (don’t really eat ice cream) but I will try on fruit and cheese for sure.

18

In related news, my aged bottle of delicious Chinese black vinegar is empty. I went to Chinatown and tried to replace it, but I couldn’t find the same brand. Any advice?

I mostly add a dash to hot & sour soup, or to a pan of food I’m cooking.

19

Not going to Google this because the last thing I need is more expensive vinegar on my shelf.

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20

I’ll put the over/under at 30 minutes before you cave on looking at Chinese vinegar.

@Lucy I don’t know anything about Chinese vinegar, honestly.

I wound up ordering the $55 bottle, hopefully it’s good enough. I went to the True Balsamic FB page, I know it’s all marketing but if it’s roughly true then I think he is sourcing some decent product. Reminds me of the White 2 Tea guy.

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