Balsamic Vinegar, the new soy sauce!

I have LOVED balsamic vinegar for ages, use it often, but recently I just decided that it is so much better than soy sauce in so many ways. I mean the combination of sweet tang and a bit of salt is just so incredibly tasty that I have started using it instead of soy sauce.

Like today I did a veggie fried rice with shallots and green beans from Mom's garden plus mushrooms and carrots. I used some olive oil to saute the shallots then added the mushrooms and carrots. I steamed the green beans in the microwave for about a minute to get them cooked but still crunchy. (they require too much cooking if you just try to cook them on the stovetop.) then I mixed everything up with some rice and some BV and it is sooo yummy!!

And now I can just see myself using BV on pot stickers and sushi with delicious results. I already tended to use rice vinegar and soy sauce which makes along the same type of flavour but using BV is easier.

A few years ago at my old job we did a BV tasting that had some vinegar that were hundreds of years old. So thick and full of flavor all you needed was a dot on a nice hard cheese nice parmesan or romano and it was just amazing. Now the really really old BVs are incredibly expensive. But if you want to get a truly good BV you should make sure ti is certified as aged at LEAST 12 years. Trust me the flavors are much better to get a properly aged BV. Plus it is actually NOT BV if it has not been aged at least 12 years!

And that is your food bite for today!

Oh and another favorite: Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt or sea salt, and fresh baked focaccia bread!