Use Balsamic Vinegar All you need to know about Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
A passion that turns into a job and a dream that becomes reality. L-Originale Aceto Balsamico di Modena is the perfect example.
Gabriele, one of the founders of the company, will tell us the story about L-Originale®, a company specialized in the selection of this food excellence.
A 50-year long passion, the story of L-Originale® is quite recent and started in the 70s.
Where does your passion for Balsamic Vinegar come from?
I was born in the land of Balsamic Vinegar: Modena. It is the Italian city with the highest number of PGI and PDO certified products. This city has got approximately 200,000 inhabitants that share the passion for food and its excellence. Every moment is good for eating something and enjoying a meal in Modena!
For me, the Balsamic is a family matter. A reason for being proud, a tradition that is handed down from generation to generation.
We know that many families around here have their battery
Yes, it is true. Even in my family, there was a battery for the production of Balsamic Vinegar. I remember when I was a child and my father used to keep the family battery jealously and with great care. I also remember the sour but sweet smell of the vinegar from the attic. We could only go there with my father’s permission.
During our meals, we always had a bottle of this precious Black Gold which came from the family battery or from some relatives or friend’s batteries that had the same passion. It was a costume to exchange products with friends and relatives to taste it.
I am convinced that for us, Modenese people, producing excellence is inherent in DNA. We are hard workers, proud people and we love to share what we do and what we have. For this reason, our family’s vinegar was intended for our consumption and Christmas gifts for our closest friends.
And how did your passion for this food excellence develop?
Over the years, I have gained the awareness that what we used to have during our meals is a real “black gold”. I realized it when I was travelling around the world and I have known a lot of people from different cultures (including gastronomic) and social backgrounds. As a good Modenese, when I was hosted by these new friends, I used to bring a bottle of “our” vinegar as a small gift. I do not remember anyone who did not like this gift. I could see their eyes light in amazement indeed.
Many of my new friends, before I was coming back home, asked me to send the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena because they were captivated by this unmistakable flavour, which magically merged with their cuisine.
And from here, what was the step to get to L-Originale Aceto Balsamico di Modena?
Aware of the luck of having such a unique product in my hands, in 2015, I decided to transform my passion into a job, which has become a mission.
I founded with a partner the company L-Originale®.
We have the desire to select and market only the real and original Balsamic.
The family battery, which I still carry on with great dedication, was able only to produce quantities useful only for personal use. It is not certified so we decided to contact several Acetaia and select only the best ones. We selected the best productions and started offering them for sale on our website.
L-Originale Aceto Balsamico di Modena www.l-originale.com
We are breeders not producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PDO and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI.
Our job is to choose the best product from selected Acetaia and we take care of its packaging with meticulous care.
We think that such a precious and unique product must have value packaging that immediately transmits the unique qualities of the product it contains.
How come to this choice?
I believe that the advantage of being selectors lies in the fact that we are not tied to any Acetaia. We don’t compromise and we have the freedom to market only the best, not just what our battery produces. If you produce your vinegar, you are tied to that. Being able to choose year by year, we select only the best product.
What range of products do you offer online?
In our business, we have always put product quality before every choice. For this reason, we offer on our e-commerce both Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PDO and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI but we have not compromised with the two products. As you know, the disciplinary expect that the second one can be marketed after only 60 days of ageing.
L-Originale® has selected Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI aged in barrels for at least 8 years. We have also proposed some very valuable Balsamic condiments, aged up to 30 years.
You mentioned that you feel your job almost like a “mission”
Yes, it is true. From the beginning, our business has been an online sales activity, and I confess that the way to go is not easy. We have acquired the awareness that while for us the Balsamic is part of our everyday life and our culinary culture, in other areas of Italy and the world, this product is not known, or better, the knowledge of this black gold is very superficial and linked to products born for large retailers.
It is not easy to explain why there are products in the market that cost a few euros, and others that reach thousands of euros.
Aware of this difficulty, we embarked on another activity that engages a group of people daily.
We were the first to create an informative blog in English, entirely dedicated to the world of Balsamic Vinegar:
www.usebalsamicvinegar.com
In this blog, we provide detailed information on production methods, curiosities and recipes, to make people understand the value of our Black Gold.
Quality is the first characteristic that we seek for our products to propose the Modenese Balsamic that we are accustomed to using and having in our homes.
Your activity is not limited to the site and the blog
You are right. Since the beginning of our adventure, we have given great importance to the presence on social networks. We have in our hands a unique and valuable product. Thanks to the social media we have the opportunity to make it known to a global market.
We are aware of the different ways of communication so we ate on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter.
Thanks to Instagram, we have created direct contact with many users who have used our bottles of vinegar and who have shares images of recipes created with these ingredients. We use the hashtag: #l_originaleambassador
After tasting their excellent Balsamic selections we thank Gabriele for his time and the story.
L-Originale Aceto Balsamico di Modena –www.l-originale.com
BLOG – www.usebalsamicvinegar.com
Greetings from Modena.
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