An estimated 1.75 million liters of commercial balsamic vinegar and 1,760 liters of traditional balsamic vinegar are sold annually. Noted for its rich color, intense fruity aroma and exquisite sweet-and-sour flavor, it has become America's most coveted condiment. It is now served in the trendiest restaurants and is frequently featured in gourmet food magazines. For gourmets who want to learn more about this uncommon elixir and use it to add a touch of flavor to their own home-cooked meals comes The Balsamic Vinegar Cookbook. Featuring more than 40 tantalizing recipes that make the most of balsamic vinegar's assertive, complex flavor, it offers dishes such as Minestrone Modena-Style, Maple-glazed Balsamic Carrots, Salmon with Gingered Balsamic Vinegar and Strawberry Granita. An engaging history of balsamic vinegar combined with a fascinating look at how it is produced round out this tribute, which also defines terms, clears up misconceptions and provides a list of mail-order sources to ensure that readers have access to the best balsamic vinegar possible.

This book offers a clear description of all the balsamic vinegars and/or similar products produced in the world, their differences in composition, quality and use. This encompasses all the steps for the production of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar: grape composition, crushing, concentration of the must, alcoholic and acetic fermentation, ageing, sensorial properties and quality of the final product. This book covers extensively all the balsamic vinegars, especially the industrial ones that have a really large market and diffusion.

Vinegars can be considered as acidic products of special importance for the enri- ment of our diet, and resulting from the desired or controlled oxidation of ethanol containing (liquid) substrates. The traditional use and integration of vinegars in numerous cultures can be traced back to ancient times. In fact, the cultural heritage of virtually every civilization includes one or more vinegars made by the souring action (of micro-organisms) following alcoholic fermentation. It has been do- mented that the Egyptians, Sumerians and Babylonians had experience and tech- cal knowledge in making vinegar from barley and any kind of fruit. Vinegar was very popular both in ancient Greece and Rome, where it was used in food prepa- tions and as remedy against a great number of diseases. In Asia, the first records about vinegar date back to the Zhou Dynasty (1027-221 BC) and probably China’s ancient rice wines may have originally been derived from fruit, for which (malted) rice was substituted later. The historical and geographical success of vinegars is mainly due to the low technology required for their production, and to the fact that several kinds of raw materials rich in sugars may easily be processed to give vinegar. In addition, vi- gars are well-known and accepted as safe and stable commodities that can be c- sumed as beverages, health drinks or added to food as preservatives or as flavo- ing agents.

Innovative solutions to everyday cooking challenges from our team of test kitchen MacGyvers—the test cooks at Cook’s Illustrated magazine A kitchen hack is an unusual, easier, and/or better way of performing a task that often saves money and time or improves the quality of the outcome. In this wacky but eminently useful collection of kitchen hacks, you will learn how to outsmart tricky tasks and face down kitchen challenges (big and small) with innovative and clever ideas from Quick Tips, the most popular feature in Cook’s Illustrated magazine (900,000 circulation). Kitchen Hacks is a beautifully designed guidebook to hacking your kitchen . . . and beyond!

Second place winner of an Alcuin Soiciety Awards for Excellence in Book Design Inspiring recipes for the olive oil and vinegar aficionado in a gorgeously photographed book—these are the absolute best ways to elevate the flavour of your fare using fresh flavoured olive oils and white and dark balsamic vinegars. Have you recently become enamoured with fresh and flavoured extra-virgin olive oil, infused olive oil, and flavoured balsamic vinegars, only to take them home and wonder: what exactly do I do with them? These are simple but gratifying recipes that use 50 of the most popular and widely available olive oil and vinegar products to amplify the flavour in all kinds of dishes including appetizers, salads, soups, main dishes, baked goods, and desserts. You’ll also find inspiration to expand your repertoire once you learn the basics of flavour pairing. With sections on ways to experiment with marinades, salad dressings, brines, and even cocktails, you’ll never run out of ways to use your favourite products. Every recipe is guaranteed to take your dish from ordinary to exceptional. The Olive Oil and Vinegar Lover’s Cookbook provides you with possibilities that are truly endless.

The next frontier in fermenting and home brewing is vinegar: the essential ingredient for enhancing your home cooking. Just about everyone has at least one bottle of vinegar in the pantry, but not many realize how much better the homemade kind tastes—the flavor is incomparable. And it's easy make; all you need is a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage, a starter (or mother of vinegar), and a few weeks of hands-off time. Vinegar Revival shows you how to use homemade or store-bought vinegar--made from apple cider, beer, wine, fruit scraps, herbs, and more--to great effect with more than 50 recipes. Here are drinks and cocktails (Strawberry Rhubarb Shrub, Switchel, and Mint Vinegar Julep), pickles (Cured Grapes and Pickled Whole Garlic), sauces and vinaigrettes (Roasted Hot Sauce and Miso-Ginger Dressing), mains and sides (Saucy Piquant Pork Chops and Roasted Red Cabbage), and dessert (Vinegar Pie and Balsamic Ice Cream). Whether you want to experiment with home brewing or just add a little zing to your meals, Vinegar Revival demystifies the process of making and tasting vinegar.

From food writer and historian Angela Clutton comes The Vinegar Cupboard, demonstrating the many great ways vinegars can be used to balance and enhance flavours, and enable modern cooks to make the most of this ancient ingredient. There aren't too many ingredients which manage to bring flavour and adaptability to recipes and are actively good for you, but vinegar manages it, and this must-have new book looks at how they have woven their way through culinary and medical history for thousands of years, and highlight the ways we can all benefit from vinegar in our diet. There is a growing interest in vinegars and a recognition of the role acidity plays in cooking, and within these page, Angela Clutton shows how much can be achieved using just red or white wine vinegar in your cooking, as well as exploring the vast array of vinegars available. The range of vinegars on the market are expanding rapidly, and you can easily find fruit, herb, sherry, cider, malt, rice, balsamic and many types of red and white wine vinegars (from rioja through to champagne) on your supermarket shelves. The Vinegar Cupboard encourages cooks to have an arsenal of as many varieties of vinegars as they can fit in their kitchen; while we don't expect everyone to have a vinegar cupboard, we'd like to think this book will encourage a vinegar shelf at least! Info-graphics and flavour wheels enhance the recipes, ensuring this is a usable and accessible book for all home cooks.