Honey Balsamic Vinegar

Washington State’s Honey Ridge Farms, known for its artisanal honeys and honey crèmes, has recently created a Honey Balsamic Vinegar—slightly sweeter in taste than Balsamic vinegar but with a similar tarty zing.

True Balsamic vinegar comes from Modena in Italy, but the new product is “similar in taste and color to Balsamic, so it’s a good, descriptive word to use [in the name],” explains creator Leeanne Goetz. Replacing grapes with honey, Honey Ridge Farms ferments honey into a mead, a honey-based alcoholic beverage and then converts it to vinegar. Goetz is part of a large, extended beekeeping family that spans five generations. She sources most of her honey from her son who has 750 bee colonies, as well as from other family members and a small circle of local beekeepers.

One of the most exciting aspects of Honey Balsamic Vinegar is that, unlike most vinegars, it is sulfite-free for allergy sufferers. The Goetz household cooks with it often. “We use it in salads and marinades for meat, or dip bread in it,” Goetz notes. “I will sometimes drink a teaspoon of it, I’m kind of hooked on it!”

Honey Balsamic Vinegar is available for about $14 at specialty food shops across the country, including some Whole Foods Markets, or at honeyridgefarms.com. –Nina Roberts

0 comments