Interview with Simona Pahontu
Children like vinegar too Get them to try it diluted with water and see how they react. Or encourage them to use an eyedropper to add it to minestrone or creamy soups. Vinegar is also fine for newborn babies, although should be used in moderation. Pregnant mothers can also reap its benefits, since it relieves the feelings of nausea that often accompany various stages of pregnancy by Luigi Caricato
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imona Pahontu from Acetaia Pahontu produces vinegars in Teolo, in the Padua area, with Mauro Meneghetti. Their raw materials, selected with great care, are various wines: Moscato dei Colli Euganei, Prosecco and Pinot Noir. These are processed according to the static surface method, a slow process that allows complete preservation of varietal aromas, endowing a sense of place and expressing the attentive work of the winemakers. Let’s talk about vinegar and children: how can we introduce them to a product that they may seem not to appreciate? Vinegar is a natural reserve of vitamins and minerals, containing over 90 components that can help prevent and treat some of our most common ailments. Starting in early childhood, it is best to limit consumption of salt, commercial stock cubes and butter, and replace them with extra virgin olive oil, herbs and spices, to help prevent childhood overweight. How we season a salad, soup or pasta sauce for a child may not seem to be worth discussing, but people often get it wrong: either because they don’t know enough about the ingredients, or because they act on the basis of common misconceptions, such as the false belief that plant-based food – such as palm oil – is bound to be both low in calories
and cholesterol-free. The best condiments for children (and adults too) are extra virgin olive oil and the herbs of traditional Mediterranean cuisine, to which we can add vinegar, lemon juice, and some spices. Nor should we forget garlic and onion, which are excellent flavour enhancers. If, for example, we add a few drops of vinegar to a fruit salad, the mineral salts present in the fruit are made more available and, above all, we avoid adding too much sugar, which would mask the flavours and push up the calorie count. Do children really detest vinegar, as is usually presumed? Absolutely not. Using a quality vinegar when making our usual dishes is a simple way to introduce it into the diet of our children, who will begin to appreciate it. Let’s not forget that vinegar has an anti-inflammatory and purifying effect when it comes into contact with our gut flora, preventing the formation of waste deposits and bloating. Low in calories (it contains on average of between 5 and 20 calories per 100 ml), vinegar is a great way to spice up the simplest dishes and to cut down on other “heavier” types of condiments. Because there is no one single type of vinegar, nor consequently a single flavour, it also allows us to vary the flavours of the dishes in which we use it. How can we teach children about the taste of vinegars? 106
Leone, my son, loves to smell and taste vinegar diluted with water. Using an eyedropper, he adds it directly to his soups, which he adores, to his beloved grilled sardines, or to season quail’s eggs: I am convinced that education and our curiosity can lead us to re-evaluate the use of vinegar as an ingredient in everyday cooking. What initiatives have you taken as a vinegar company, and you personally as a vinegar expert? First of all, education and training for chefs, since the use of wine vinegar as an ingredient has been neglected. During visits to the vinegar factory, children are usually intrigued first of all by the colours of the vinegars being tasted; their curiosity then leads them to smell and lastly to taste small samples of vinegar, normally diluted with a little water. The next phase involves tasting vinegar on food, to which it is added as an ingredient. The children can use eyedroppers to dose it according to their personal preferences. This is their favourite part of the visit, since in a sense they get to create their own dish. Vinegar has many beneficial properties for the health and well-being of our children. Although highly acidic, it regulates the body’s internal pH, helping to rebalance an excessively acidic environment. It is fundamental in aiding the assimilation of calcium, improves protein metabolism, quenches thirst and has the power to replenish the
