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RARE SALTS & AGED VINEGARS
Balsamic Vinegar – or what is believed to be balsamic, as the written record is sparse – has been made since at least the 11th century. In the early days, balsamic vinegar was available only to the nobility, artisans and aristocrats who made it themselves. It was believed to be a miracle cure for everything from a sore throat to labor pains. The name balsamic, from balm, is derived from its purported medicinal properties, including its use as protection against the plague. Made from local grapes and aged in local wood barrels, for centuries it was made privately or on individual estates and farmsteads, and only in the last few decades has become a commercial product made for sale to others. Prior to then, balsamic was produced for family use only with barrels passed from one generation to the next, often aging for 50 to 200 years or more. It was often part of a bride’s dowry, and still is today. Unless you were Italian, balsamic was not even on the radar. As a homemade product, it was not commercially available in the U.S. until the 1970s. This demand brought about commercial brands imported from Italy as well as replicated domestically. By the 1990s, the real traditional balsamic did arrive, but with the good came the bad. The increasing popularity of balsamic brought unauthentic “authentic balsamics” as well as an ocean of imitation sugared and colored cheap vinegar masquerading as the real thing. To protect the reputation and value of balsamic vinegar, a marketing and exportation consortium was formed in Modena, Italy in 1979. The name “Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena” has been protected since 1983. Where can someone in or around Santa Fe find this true liquid perfection? That’s easy; stop into Olive Grove and we will walk you through these marvelous products aged from 10yr to 100 yr. Then you will taste for yourself what all the fuss is about. True balsamic vinegar from Modena is truly “The Nectar of the Gods.”
The Little Store with
a Lot of Taste
505 Cerrillos Rd. Suite A204, Santa Fe | On Historic “Route 66” | 505.603.6807 Locally Owned — Not a Franchise