Black Gold

I had one of those moments this week where a few stars felt like they must have been aligned.  I got to thinking about balsamic vinegar and how I would love to make a reduction.  I had a theory but it just seemed too easy.  It always sounds so swanky when I read it on a menu and I thought surely it must be some major process!  

It's not.

I was reading the current issue of Shape magazine.  Mollie Katzen, of Moosewood fame, has a column.  She just so happened to be writing about vinegar this month!  I almost let out a foodie squee when I saw that she included instructions on how to make a balsamic reduction!  It sounded so easy that I used the remainder of the bottle that I had in my cabinet to try it out for myself yesterday.  Mollie states that you don't have to use fancy shmancy stuff.  The vinegar I had was less than $5 from Trader Joe's.  I heard of someone today who ruined a 125 year old bottle of balsamic while trying to make a reduction and my heart wept.  You do have to pay attention to it but there isn't much more to do that stir it from time to time.  I don't know what went wrong with hers but I would be devastated!  

I set my stove to medium and it came to a pretty rapid boil.  I reduced the heat to med-low and let it simmer until I had about half of what I started with.

I let it cool down for a bit and then transfered it back to the original bottle.  I have already used it for all sorts of fun stuff like dressings and drizzled over yogurt.  I've also done the obvious...