Make Your Own Condiments: Balsamic Reduction

It's absolutely no question that working as a sous chef in a corporate kitchen with two badass women for my last year and a half in Boston upped my cooking game.  It also upped my confidence-in-the-kitchen game, and recently, my parents have been reaping the benefits…(but more on that later…)

What I also found is that so many of the condiments that we put on our foods - I'm talking salad dressings, dips, spreads, syrups, etc - are not only extremely easy to make, but are so filled with unnecessary ingredients when they are bought at a store instead of homemade.  There are preservatives to keep them shelf stable, and most condiments are FULL of added sugars.  That is not to say that these foods aren't made with sugar, but making them yourself gives the power to you to sweeten to your desire instead.

Because of all of that, I'm looking forward to posting some blogs about how to make your own condiments.  Trust me, once you see how easy it is, you'll never look twice at bottles of salad dressing at the store ever again.

Balsamic vinegar is the only ingredient in today's recipe.  Wait.  What?!?

Yes.

You'll hear the product that this recipe makes called by two names - balsamic reduction and balsamic glaze.  Now, technically, for something to be a glaze, there has to be sugar involved.  Many recipes on the internet have recipes for balsamic glaze include balsamic vinegar and either honey or sugar.  So since I decided to let the vinegar's natural sweetness speak for itself, it's just a reduction I'm making here.  I'm literally just reducing the vinegar over heat until it's syrup-y and thick and sweet and tangy.

Balsamic Reduction
(makes 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:
1 cup balsamic vinegar

Pour balsamic vinegar into a shallow pan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to boil.  Turn heat down to simmer, continuing to stir every once in a while to make sure the mixture isn't sticking to the bottom.  When it has thickened, and reduced by about half, you are down.  Take your reduction off the stove, wait for it to cool a bit, and then find a bottle to put it in.  I used a small squeeze bottle that makes it really fun to decorate food and/or plates with.


You guys - that's it.  It's just boiling some of the water out of balsamic vinegar.  And anything you're going to find at the store is going to be not only super expensive, but filled with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives, and probably not taste as good as this.  If you do need more sweetness in this, just add some honey or maple syrup and stir it in.  (Of course, then it's officially a glaze, but I digress…)

Try this.  It is super worth your while, I promise.

-Bethy