The Real Skinny on Balsamic Vinegar

by Beth Hanggeli

Vinegar is good for more than salad dressings.  Believe it or not, unadulterated balsamic vinegar is not 

only delicious, but it has great health benefits! Vinegar has been valued for thousands of years for its astringent and disinfectant properties, not to mention as a preservative and flavoring agent.

Historically, balsamic vinegar was considered to be something of a miracle cure. It’s believed that the word originated from the Italian word for balm, meaning an aromatic resin as well as a soothing and healing agent. It was used to treat everything from a mild headache to labor pains. Its antibacterial and antiviral properties made it ideal for disinfecting wounds and infections. A tonic mixture of balsamic vinegar can even be used on nail infections and acne!

All balsamic vinegar is not created equal, however. In spite of their beautiful bottles and labels with slick advertising copy, some of the balsamic vinegar that you buy in the supermarket contains caramel and sugar, which are cheap fillers that corrupt the flavor and nutritional value of the balsamic. Be sure you’re getting the real thing.

Balsamic vinegar has a wealth of benefits that go far beyond these uses.

Helps You Lose Weight

Balsamic vinegar is low in fat, cholesterol and sodium. Use it instead of salad dressing or marinade. At 5 calories per teaspoon, it’s far less caloric than a 1-teaspoon serving of olive oil, which has 45 calories.

When combined with food containing carbohydrates, balsamic vinegar keeps your sugar level stable and helps avoid food cravings. It’s a rich source of potassium, manganese, calcium and iron, which are vital for the body’s function and contribute to maintaining a healthy body weight. Potassium also helps reduce appetite.  The acetic acid in balsamic vinegar also slows down the passage of food through your gastrointestinal tract, keeping hunger pangs at bay.

A Good Source of Antioxidants

Balsamic vinegar contains polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants that protect the body from heart disease. They are proven cancer fighters since they enhance the immune system, fight cell damage and make blood platelets more flexible.  Thy are also kn own to prevent heart and circulation problems. Balsamic vinegar also contains a bioflavonoid called quercetin that has considerable anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  Adding balsamic vinegar to your diet can help prevent and postpone signs of aging like loss of skin elasticity and wrinkles.

Helps Digestion

The polyphenols contained in balsamic vinegar trigger the release of pepsins, important digestive 

enzymes that break down proteins into amino acids and speed up metabolism, thereby aiding digestion.

Balsamic vinegar is also rich in acetic acid, which stimulates the secretion of salivary and gastric juices that break down foods into simpler forms, making it easier to digest them. It also establishes proper pH levels in the digestive tract and induces the stomach to stop producing large quantities of hydrochloric acid, which reduces the occurrence of gastritis.  In the Modena region in Italy where balsamic vinegar is produced, small amounts are often taken before or after meals to neutralize acid reflux, relieve heartburn, and help digestion.

Diabetes

Balsamic vinegar improves insulin sensitivity, which promotes blood sugar regulation. This can often reduce the unpleasant side effects associated with diabetes.  Balsamic vinegar is low on the glycemic index, a system that categorizes foods based on how much they affect your blood sugar. Low glycemic index foods cause your glucose to rise slightly and then slowly drop. High-glycemic foods causes a sudden spike in your glucose, then it drops sharply to below its original level. Even though balsamic vinegar is a low-glycemic food it does contain sugar, so if you’re diabetic, you should watch your portion size.

Bone Health

Pepsin and acetic acid help improve absorption of crucial minerals into the body such as calcium and magnesium, which are vital for healthy, strong bones.

Cholesterol

Balsamic vinegar is beneficial for stabilizing your blood cholesterol levels. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol is the bad cholesterol that blocks arteries, causing hardening and clogging. Polyphenols from balsamic vinegar inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which minimizes the risk of damage to cells. Drizzling balsamic vinegar on your salad at lunch can help keep your cholesterol within a healthy range.

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the amount of force your blood places on arterial walls. Since balsamic vinegar 

reduces atherosclerosis and hardening of arteries, it can also help normalize blood pressure levels. Regular vinegar consumption has been shown to lower systolic blood pressure (the number on top of your blood pressure reading, which measures blood pressure during heartbeats).

I'll bet you thought that balsamic vinegar was only good on salad.  All in all, balsamic vinegar is tasty, delicious and full of health benefits. Why not use it to regularly flavor your dishes as well as season your salad? Have you ever tried it with strawberries? What’s your favorite way to use it? Let us know!

For more healthy cooking tips and helpful how-to videos, go to http://spice-blends.com

The ABC's of BBQ

By Carl Weiss

Summer means barbecue in the USA.  Barbecue was actually invented in the West Indies.  Called barbacoa 

by the islanders, the process of slowly smoking fish and meat over an open fire was first discovered by Spanish explorers.  But the process was quickly adopted and evolved by hog farmers in the Southern US.  Even the charcoal briquette was an American invention, being patented by Pennsylvanian Ellswth Zwoyer in 1897.  So clearly barbecue is as American as hot dogs, baseball and apple pie.  But what separates the men from the boys when it comes to great BBQ?  Several things actually:

      A.    All you need is charcoal.  .  I hate to say it but barbecue rule number one is you have to grill over 

      charcoal.  While I have met a number of grillmeisters who know a thing or two about grilling and claim that they can get nearly the same smoky flavor on a gas grill with the liberal application of wood chips, I beg to differ.  While the gas grill is a great time saver when it comes to cooking outdoors, it still is most definitely NOT barbecue.

      B.     BBQ cannot be rushed.  In fact the essence of great barbecue is slow cooking.  The longer the meat cooks the more tasty and tender it gets.  Even setting up a charcoal grill for maximum efficiency can take an hour or more. In order to get charcoal to light properly you need to let them soak in charcoal lighter for at least twenty minutes and you need to let them burn at least a half hour before you bring on the meat.  To try and rush the process means that you run the risk of the coals not reaching the proper temperature, or even becoming extinguished.

      C.     Control is key.  While there are some nifty barbecues out there, true grill masters will insist on having the kind of grill that comes equipped with louvers that allow them to regulate the draft and has space enough to put the charcoal on one side of the grill and the meat on the other.  Indirect heat is what separates BBQ from baking.

      D.    Dry rubs are all the rage these days.  Rubs are composed of spices and herbs that are combined and rubbed on the outside of meat or fish prior to being placed on the grill.  The action of barbecuing or smoking the meat will activate the spices.  Rubs that include the use of brown sugar will not only sweeten the process, but it will also glaze the meat. 

      E.     Everything you need to know about sauces and marinades.  Marinade is applied hours or in

some cases a day or more before the cooking process begins.  The difference between marinade and sauce is the fact that while both typically impart flavor, marinades are also designed to tenderize meat via the inclusion of either vinegar or citric acid (typically lemon or lime juice).  Books are written about barbecue sauce and there are literally hundreds that can be purchased off the shelf or ordered online.  So I won’t attempt to get into the subject here.  Suffice it to say that the most important piece of advice I can give people about sauce is that they need to be applied either at the last stage of cooking or after the meat is removed from the grill.  Adding sauce at the outset of cooking is a no-no since this will cause the sauce to dry out and even burn.

While there are many routes to crafting mouth-watering deep down smoky barbecue, the most vital elements to keep in mind are that a little knowledge of the basics and the proper application of smoke and time is all you really need to wow the crowd at your next summer cookout.

Carl Weiss is a foodie and the producer of Man Cave Munchies, a cooking show designed for men.  Feel free to peruse more of his videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MancaveMunchies