[Sca-cooks] Documenting balsamic?

[Raphaella DiContini]

Thank you! This gives me a direction to start looking in. Your mention of 
Academia Barilla sparked my memory, and I recall that they actually have an on 
line searchable library of historical food related books: 

http://www.academiabarilla.com/academia/gastronomic-library/default.aspx
Unfortunately but not terribly surprisingly my first search has turned up 
results entirely in Italian and my Italian is at the Dick and Jane stage still, 
unfortunately (but at least I've gotten familiar with many of the food words so 
it's see Dick and Jane boil/ cook young chickens, then spice them well, etc. ). 
 
 
I'll keep looking! I just got two new projects today at work so I'm a bit 
swamped, but on my lunch break I'll see if I can dig a little deeper. 


In joyous service, 
Raffaella 



________________________________
From: Terry Decker <t.d.decker at att.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tue, February 1, 2011 1:46:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Documenting balsamic?

The story is the first reference to balsamic vinegar is in a letter from 1046 
between Henry II, King of the Germans, and Boniface, Marquess of Tuscany, 
requesting a gift of special vinegar "that flows in the most perfect manner."

The story is bunk, but the letter might be real.

The Henry (assuming the date is correct) involved would be Henry III, King of 
the Germans, who in 1046 was on his way to Roman to be crowned Holy Roman 
Emperor by Clement II (whom Henry had made a Bishop in Germany).  Boniface III, 
Margrave of Tuscany (and more to the point, Count of Modena) was an ally and 
strong supporter of both Henry II and Henry III.  Presumably, according to one 
source, the letter was uncovered by Academia Barilla, an Italian cooking school, 
but I have no real evidence for that story.  While a letter to the Count of 
Modena requesting some of his special vinegar is suggestive, it does not appear 
that balsamic vinegar was specifically called for.

As Henry III was the Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Germans, it may be that 
the letter is in Monumenta Germanica Historica.

Other than that, you might try checking for the House of Este, who became rulers 
of Modena in 1288 and began commercial balsamic vinegar production in 1891.

Bear


----- Original Message ----- 
Does anyone have any more traceable, sited sources for the making and use of
Balsamic vinegars in Italy around or before the time of this manuscript? A
source that indicates use in Venice would be hitting it out of the park, but I'd
be happy with something that could reliably show when it started being used in
Italy in general. Like cheeses, they often don't state what type of vinegar to
use, and I'd LOVE to be able to occasionally use balsamic in recreations if the
application calls for it and feel that it's a valid and historically plausible
option.
In joyous service,
Raffaella



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