[Sca-cooks] Documenting balsamic?

[Raphaella DiContini]

Greetings, 
      I've just finally done the next round of recipes from Libro di cucina/ 
Libro per cuoco and I'm in the process of writing up the recipes and experience. 
It's a set of three sauces, with the last two being variations of the first with 
different meat, and slightly different cooking variants, XIV Ciuiro or sauce 
black to ash gray for boar,  XV Ciuiro or relish for hind (deer, venison) etc. 
,and XVI Ciuiro for meat of roebuck or of hare. When I've interpreted this 
recipe in the past, I've used balsamico because it helped give this "black" 
sauce a nice dark color without toasting the bread to the point of giving the 
sauce a burnt flavor (which I've tried to varying degrees of success). This time 
I used red wine vinegar as I haven't been able to find solid documentation on 
the use of balsamic vinegars in Venice at this time, although many of the 
companies that produce it claim it dates back long before. I honestly like the 
color, and complexity of flavor better with the balsamic, but don't want to use 
or recommend it if it isn't plausibly appropriate in this context. 

 
My apologies if this has already been discussed here before and I simply missed 
seeing it in the archives. I did a quick search of Stefan's Florilegium and 
found one article on vinegars ( What's so special about Vinegar by Mistress 
Christianna MacGrain) that quotes from a couple of companies websites which are 
no longer available to check to see if they sites sources:
 "At the web site of Alessi, one of the larger commercial balsamic vinegar 
producers, they say (at http://www.vigo.com/BALSAMIC.htm): "Balsamic vinegar has 
been made for hundreds of years. It originated in the Modena region of Italy, 
and until recently only those regions were privileged to experience its 
delights. It is recorded that in 1046 A.D., Boniface, marquis of Bologna, made a 
gift of Balsamic Vinegar to Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor. Like in wine 
making, each family had their own special recipe. The Balsamic Vinegar was aged 
up to 25 years or more, and sometimes spiced with herbs and seasonings. "
According to the web site of Master Choice 
(http://www.masterchoice.com/vinegar.htm), another commercial balsamic vinegar 
producer, the traditional production of balsamic vinegar goes like this: "After 
pressing, the juices of the trebbiano and lambrusco grapes that are typical to 
the Emilia-Romagna region are blended and boiled over fire, and then poured into 
barrels of oak, chestnut, cherry, mulberry and ash. For years, the juice ages, 
ferments and condenses naturally, gradually transforming into vinegar. Every 
year, the liquid is mixed with younger vinegars and placed in a series of 
smaller and smaller barrels. The vinegar absorbs much of its aroma from the oak 
and its color from the chestnut. Then after five years, the vinegar is bottled." 
"
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