Balsamico

It was about a year ago that Hubby Tony and I made a trip to the Olive Oil Marketplace to stock up on balsamic vinegar. On that visit we bought three bottles-two darks and a white. Last week I used up the last of the white (cranberry-pear flavored), which the store owner taught me to drizzle on my morning oatmeal, a great way to sweeten it without using added sugar. 

The store is across the Mississippi in Alton Illinois, approximately 30 miles from the house, so not a place that's easy to just pop into. I'll get there before the end of the month. In the meantime, the pantry held a Costco-sized bottle of balsamic I bought before we discovered the good stuff. I wondered if I could use it to make a fruit-flavored vinegar to tide me over. It turns out I could, and the process was easy. I tossed a cup of strawberry chunks and the peel of one lemon into a large Mason jar, added two cups of warmed Costco balsamic, then let the mixture cool before I screwed the lid on. The recipe said to let the ingredients meld for a week, but I was impatient. After three days I opened the jar and took a taste. The vinegar had a nice strawberry taste. That fruit taste was even more pronounced after five days, and by the time the week was finally over flavor was heavenly. I strained the solids out, then poured the vinegar through a coffee filter to make sure there were no seeds or pieces of peel left.

The taste was right, but the newly-infused vinegar was runny and didn't have the thick texture I was used to, so I simmered it on the stove until the volume was reduced by half. After the vinegar cooled I used a funnel to pour it into an empty glass bottle. 

I've now used the newly-infused vinegar a couple of times. It will do until I get the real thing, but it's far from perfect. White vinegar is by definition lighter in color, and has a lighter taste. The dark vinegar is stronger, and gives my oatmeal an unattractive look. It's better than nothing, though.