Making Balsamic Vinegar at Home

You’re invited to join my long journey of making balsamic vinegar at home!

I have been fascinated by how traditional Balsamic Vinegar is made in Modena, Italy, and I wanted to have just one small barrel of that sweet & tangy vinegar in my family–the same way some families in Modena do.
After years of dreaming, I finally decided to do it.

However, with all the circumstances I had to tackle, this Balsamic vinegar is different from the start, but I enjoyed every step of the long journey, and I hope you do too.

Watch more homemade vinegar videos:
How to make pineapple vinegar https://youtu.be/_MI3Zamei5s
The complete guide to making apple cider vinegar https://youtu.be/tPD148aV1Js
How to make brown rice vinegar https://youtu.be/w82z1SYVd40
The art & science of making apple cider vinegar https://youtu.be/YZZd4KZwCFc

I highly encourage you to repurpose and use what you already have. If you can’t, try to look at garage sales and second-hand stores first. If you still can’t find something and need to order it online. Here is the link to my Amazon Storefront where you might find what you need.

Kitchen Essentials: https://www.amazon.com/shop/gourmetvegetariankitchen
DISCLAIMER: This is an affiliate link, which means that if you click and buy the products via the link, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for your support!

Music from Artlist.
https://artlist.io/Jeem-1887476

The Journey of Making Balsamic Vinegar at Home

For years I have been fascinated and dreaming of making balsamic vinegar the same way they do in Modena, Italy, but never getting a chance . . .

Despite not having all I needed to make it the exact way I dreamed of, I finally decided. . . it’s time to take the long journey . . . October, 2022 at our apartment I knew from the start this journey would be different

than the way they do it in Modena. . . first of all, I don’t have a grape juice press to extract grape must instead, I’m going to use a steamer to extract the grape juice also, instead of using wine grapes that have higher sugar content

I’m making it with concord grapes our friends gave us they press the grapes right after harvesting without washing. . but I wash them first in Modena, they cook the must immediately after extracted to prevent airborne yeast from converting the sugar into alcohol

so I really hoped getting the juice from the steamer would work as the juice doesn’t get exposed to any airborne yeast either I’d have to find out in the end

extracting juice this way takes a long time . . . but after a while, the juice finally came then I transferred it to a big pot and let it slowly cook uncovered . . . on low heat stirring it occasionally to prevent burning

they said to cook it down to 1/3 and that would take a long time it got too late at night, so I turned the stove down to very low and let it continue to cook with the lid on. . .

the next morning, I turned the heat up a little bit and let it continue to cook uncovered by late afternoon, the juice was cooked down halfway but it didn’t show any sign of becoming syrup yet. . .

I was afraid to lose all the juice, so I stopped . . . but I separated a smaller amount of juice. . . to cook it down to 1/3 as they said and it really turned into a thick syrup while the juice was still warm to the touch

I transferred it to 1/2 gallon glass jars up to the lower shoulder of the jars then added 2 TBSP of grape vinegar. . . from when I made natural red wine covered the jars with breathable cloth and let them ferment at room temperature

for 2 weeks as for the thicker syrup . . . I simply put it in a glass jar and added nothing. . . the same way they make traditional balsamic vinegar

also covering it with a breathable cloth there is no sign of fermentation after the first day yet but the fermentation happened very fast during the second night and the jars overflowed with foam it looked so pretty and enticed me to taste it

so I did and it’s incredibly tasty I scooped it out to make more room and cleaned the jars with a clean cloth hopefully the fermentation would slow down. . . and the jars wouldn’t overflow again

I put the jars in a tray to keep them from getting messy in case it overflows again

I made the first batch to see if it’s worth filming. Turned out, I really liked the taste of it, so I decided to make a video of the second batch here is the first batch

I didn’t have an overflow problem from this batch at all there is a big mother already formed. . . in each jar I am very happy with the vinegar’s taste . . . and looking forward to aging it in the oak barrel I bought earlier

in the next few days when it stops leaking apparently, the fermentation didn’t slow down so I decided to transfer some from each jar to another one that night. . . to give it plenty of room

no more overflowed when I checked in the morning November, 2022 . . . after a week of soaking, the barrel is ready I’m going to transfer the first batch into it

and I’ll do the same with the second batch . . . when the first fermentation is done I’m dreaming of having nice balsamic vinegar the same way they do in Modena after a year besides the overflow problems . . . so far, everything is going as planned

the barrel leaks a little bit but hopefully, it will seal up eventually I’m not going to put this mother in as I’m sure it’s going to produce more mother soon this barrel can hold up to five gallons of liquid the leaking is not too bad

I’m covering the hole with a thick cloth. . . that I sewed magnets into for now, I’m going to ferment it on my counter at room temperature now, for the thicker syrup. . .

since I only made a small amount of this one, and I only have one barrel. . . I’m going to leave this in the jar to age and I’ll find out what it’s like in a year

Mid-December, 2022 we moved and I stored the barrel in the unfinished attic of our future house . . .

January-February, 2023, we spent our time traveling in Asia April, 2023 . . . this is what happened to the barrel

I switched the cloth for a cork to loosely cover the hole as I was afraid the vinegar might spill during the construction of the house all the metal rings rusted, but there was no sign of new leakage.

I cleaned and rubbed it with olive oil, so hopefully it won’t rust anymore . . .

November, 2023 while there are still people working on the house . . .

my new kitchen was to the point I could work in it. . . it’s been exactly one year of aging, and I’m so anxious to find out how it’s doing! obviously, the olive oil didn’t prevent the rust. . .

I’m going to clean it up before looking inside cleaning wasn’t as bad as it looked, just 30 minutes removing the rust now it’s time to find out how it’s doing

the vinegar is covered tightly with a new mother that looks pretty dry there are white spots on the sides looks like the vinegar has evaporated some during the year the surface of the mother reminds me of fruit leather

and the color is still purple here it is, the mother. . . it formed to the shape of the barrel I was surprised that the color didn’t change. . . at all over the year I’m going to check the white spots now. . .

what a relief–they are just white crystals, not mold they must be sugar crystals from the grape juice I’m going to get some from the spigot. . . but it’s clogged . . .

I’m switching to a glass syringe instead and getting it out to photograph for a thumbnail only I’ll put it back to continue its aging they age it at least 12 years in Modena

I’m not sure anyone wants to check back if I share the result in 12 years but I’ll keep it aging in my family for sure

at this point, the vinegar doesn’t taste as sweet as balsamic vinegar sold in the market, but not as sour as my grape vinegar either hopefully, the taste will improve over time . . .

now, let’s check on the one that’s made from the thick syrup I’m very happy with the color and its consistency

it looks like the good traditional balsamic vinegar I dreamed of without any white crystals on the sides and it tastes unbelievably delicious. . . This method is what I’ll use in the future

there’s one more thing . . . this is the mother I left in the jar it grew more layers over the year. . . and looks exactly like a SCOBY in kombucha. . .

I’ll experiment making kombucha with this mother soon. . . and will let you know if it works

in the end, my journey doesn’t compare to what they do in Modena. . . but I enjoyed every step dearly

thank you so much for being with me to the end, I’ll see you again soon. . .