I bought a bottle of balsamic vinegar, and it smells so sour when I put my nose over the bottle.
Is it supposed to be like that?
How to tell if a balsamic vinegar is good
ingredient-selectionvinegar
Related Topic
- Does olive oil and balsamic vinegar together need to be refrigerated
- If a recipe doesn’t specify the type of vinegar, is there a standard type implied
- Bread – Why does the bread smell like vinegar
- How to choose a vinegar substitute if I only keep balsamic and rice vinegar
- What type of rice vinegar is more often used in Asian dishes
- Balsamic vinegar became too thick. How to liquefy it
- Flavor – Is it possible (and if so, how) to convert a store bought “pickles in vinegar” to “pickles in sweetened vinegar”
Best Answer
Well, it IS vinegar. However as you probably already know, higher quality balsamic vinegar is less sour and more rich tasting than its cheaper counterpart. It's unlikely that your balsamic is spoiled--in most ways vinegar is as spoiled as it's going to get.
More likely is that you've uncovered one of the issues with balsamic vinegar: Most of what you can get in a supermarket is of low quality, and is not produced in the traditional way (years of curing and evaporation in wooden casks). What you can get is more likely to be much more mundane wine vinegar with flavorings. And that is often more acidic-tasting and pungent than the real thing (which costs an arm and a leg).
I'd say sample it carefully and see if it's as sour as it smells. It might be OK, or you might want to find a new brand or get it at a store that goes through it faster (check the best by date, if there is one).