Whether it’s drizzled over a salad or served with bread and oil, a drop of high-quality balsamic vinegar goes a long way to improving many dishes.
However, experts warn that many people might not be getting the real deal when they purchase on this product.
Truly authentic balsamic vinegar is produced in extremely limited quantities and can often cost upwards of £200 per 100ml.
That means that much of the cheap vinegar you find on supermarket shelves isn’t the real deal.
As demand for balsamic outstrips supply, some producers have begun bulking out their products with cheaper vinegars, artificial colours, and even water.
Even some pricier, regionally protected products have been found to be adulterated with inauthentic ingredients.
Luckily, experts say there are five simple signs which reveal whether the balsamic in your cupboard is real or fake.
As experts warn that the balsamic vinegar in your cupboard might be a fake, these are the five key signs to tell whether you have the real deal
What is ‘real’ balsamic vinegar?
While it all might look pretty similar in the bottle, not all balsamic vinegar is created equal.
At the very top of the vinegar pyramid is ‘Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale’, or traditional balsamic vinegar, and there are extremely strict rules governing what gets to hold this title.
Traditional balsamic vinegar can only be made in the Italian regions of Modena and Reggio Emilia where the entire production process is overseen by a specially formed certification agency.
The vinegar is made of the juice, or ‘must’, of sweet white grapes which is cooked over flames until it has reduced into a thick syrup.
The reduced syrup is left to naturally ferment for up to three weeks to develop its acidity before ageing in barrels for a minimum of 12 years.
As the vinegar ages and the water evaporates, it passes through a series of increasingly small barrels or ‘batteria’, becoming thicker and more concentrated.
Once a year, the vinegar in the smallest flask is bottled and each barrel is topped up with the vinegar from the next cask.
Authentic traditional balsamic vinegar can only be made in Modena or Reggio Emilia and is aged in wooden barrels for at least 12 years before bottling
When the vinegar has been bottled, it is sent to a panel of five expert judges who determine the appropriate grade and decide whether it is worthy of being called ‘Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale’.
However, this process is extremely slow, massively expensive, and can only produce about 8,000 litres of vinegar each year across the entire region.
In order to meet the demand for their products, vinegar producers of Modena and Reggio Emilia have also laid out less stringent rules for other types of vinegar.
This product, called ‘Balsamic Vinegar of Modena’ can be made with grapes grown anywhere in the world but has to be produced in Modena.
The most important difference is that Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is not made by fermentation.
Instead, producers add wine vinegar derived from other sources to bring the acidity of cooked grape must to around six per cent before ageing it in barrels.
This type of vinegar can contain up to 50 per cent wine vinegar and some even include caramels, thickeners and other additives to make it look more like the real thing.
How can balsamic vinegar be fake?
Italy only produces about 8,000 litres of authentic ‘Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale’ each year and there are strict rules around what can legally use this title. THis means that much of the oil on the supermarket shelves might not be the real thing (stock image)
Since the rules governing its production are so strict, the vast majority of vinegar on the shelves is not Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.
Instead, what you are likely to find is either Balsamic Vinegar of Modena or something simply labelled ‘balsamic vinegar’.
Unlike the protected Italian labels, there is no rule to determine what can be called balsamic vinegar.
That ambiguity means that customers can end up unwittingly buying significantly lower-quality products while thinking they are getting the real thing.
In one London supermarket, MailOnline found that a large number of bottles labelled balsamic vinegar or balsamic vinegar of Modena list wine vinegar as their first ingredient.
One bottle for sale in Whole Foods labelled as balsamic vinegar contained 70 per cent wine vinegar and 30 per cent grape juice.
As long as the bottles are clearly labelled, there is nothing illegal about this practice but it shows that you might not necessarily be getting what you pay for.
However, as the value of the balsamic vinegar market rises there have been a growing number of incidents of genuine fraud.
There are no rules on what can be called ‘balsamic vinegar’, this means that much of what you buy is really just wine vinegar darkened with some grape juice or colourings. This bottle contained 70 per cent wine vinegar and only 30 per cent grape juice
In 2023, researchers from the Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy, wrote: ‘This high demand has created a profitable market for companies from all sectors of the food industry and has exposed this high value-added product to counterfeiting and imitation by unscrupulous Italian and foreign producers.’
Researchers note that balsamic vinegar of all levels of authentication can be adulterated with cheaper vinegars including those derived from spirits.
Scientists have also been working to develop methodologies to detect when balsamic vinegar has been stretched with water.
Even the tightly controlled Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Moderna has not been immune to fakery.
The body which governs balsamic vinegar production has strict rules for the types of grapes which can be used.
However, in 2019, Italian Police seized 9,000 tonnes of crushed grapes worth £12.9 million as part of ‘Operation Global Wine’.
The criminals had been passing off cheap table grapes as the expensive wine-making varieties needed for balsamic vinegar and forging numerous certification documents.
The police found that these grapes had already been used in the production of balsamic vinegar by several major Italian companies including AIMO and Acetum.
Authentic balsamic must only be made of cooked grape must which is reduced and left to ferment. Cheaper alternatives bulk out the product with other vinegars, caramels, dyes, and even water
How to know if your balsamic vinegar is real
Luckily, since the regulations governing traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena are so strict, there are clear signs which tell you if you have the real thing.
Starting with the bottle, traditional balsamic vinegar can only be packaged in very specific shaped containers.
Vinegars from Modena are packaged in 100ml bottles shaped like orbs while those from Reggio Emilia come in 100ml bottles shaped like an upside-down tulip.
If your vinegar isn’t in one of those two types of bottle then you already know it must be a lower grade.
To be legitimate, bottles of vinegar also require very specific wording and official markings.
The highest grade bottles will be marked ‘Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena’ while bottles that contain added vinegar will simply read ‘Aceto Balsamico di Modena.’
Likewise, only traditional balsamic vinegar bears the red DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) seal which shows that it has been produced within the Modena region and follows the strict production guidelines laid out in EU law.
Authentic traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena can only be bottled in 100ml bottles shaped like spheres (pictured). Authentic vinegar from Reggio Emilia comes in bottles shaped like an upsidedown tulip
The less pricey balsamic vinegar of Modena, meanwhile, will be marked with a blue IGP, or ‘Protected Geographical Indication’, seal showing it has been made within the Modena region.
These seals are a legal requirement for export and are rigorously enforced within the EU so you can be fairly confident you’re getting what you pay for.
Unfortunately, one of the easiest ways to know you have real balsamic vinegar is the price.
Bottles of traditional balsamic vinegar typically start at £100 per 100ml and can often cost hundreds for a bottle.
Bottles of inauthentic vinegar on the other hand can cost just a few pounds for 500ml.
But, if you don’t feel like splurging on a £100 bottle of vinegar, that doesn’t mean you need to settle for a fake.
Mazzetti, a maker of balsamic vinegar, explains: ‘The list of ingredients on the back label of the bottle says a lot about the quality of the final product.
‘The ingredients are listed by quantity: and as a general rule, more premium Balsamic vinegars are made with more grape must than wine vinegar.’
‘Balsamic vinegar of modena’ can contain other vinegars and is marked with the yellow and blue IGP seal (left). ‘Traditional balsamic vinegar of modena’ must only contain grape must and is marked with the yellow and red DOP seal (right)
Traditional balsamic vinegar is required to have grape must as its only ingredient, so take care to note how much grape must has been used.
Before you buy a bottle of vinegar, check the back to see if it lists other vinegars as the first ingredient or to see if there are any added caramels or colourings that could be disguising an inferior product.
While you are reading the ingredients, keep an eye out for any thickening agents such as guar gum.
Truly high-quality balsamic becomes thick and glossy as it loses moisture during its 12 years of ageing in wooden barrels.
To try and imitate this appearance, some producers will add substances which artificially add thickness and shine to the vinegar.
If the vinegar doesn’t have any thickeners in the ingredients and coats the inside of the bottle, that can be a sign of good quality.
By following these steps, and being prepared to spend a little bit more for a better product, you can rest assured that you are getting exactly what you pay for.
