What is Vincotto

What is Vincotto

Vincotto literally translates from Latin or Italian as cooked wine. Like vinegar Vincotto is an ancient ingredient that can be dated back to Roman times. It originates from the following regions in Italy, Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy, Apulia and Mache and was made by country people. It would have been made at a certain time of the year when the grapes were ready to harvest.

Vincotto is described as a rich, thick, sweet and fruity liquid. Traditionally it is made by slow cooking and reducing non-fermented grape must until it has been reduced to approximately 20% of its original volume. Grape must is freshly crushed non-fermented grapes that includes the skins, seeds and stems of the fruit.   This process of cooking and reducing the grape must takes several hours in a large kettle.

Vincotto is also known as Sapa in Latin and Epsima in Greek and today may still be referred to as these names in Europe.

Lirah Vincotto

Lirah have made Vincotto for the food industry, high end restaurants and well known chefs for quite some time now and we thought it was time to share this incredibly versatile ingredient with the rest of our customers.

Lirah’s Vincotto is made the traditional way by slow cooking and reducing concentrated grape juice (similar to grape must) for several hours in our large pots. All of our concentrated grape juice is made from Australian grapes and the use of concentrated grape juice allows us to make this delicious artisan product all year round. Over 1kg of grapes goes into making each 250mL bottle of Lirah Vincotto.

At Lirah we add a touch of our red wine vinegar to our Vincotto which provides a slightly tangy taste, provides a little acidity and rounds out the natural sweetness of the concentrated grape juice. If you haven’t tried Vincotto before we recommend you give it a try and we are sure that it will become a staple in your pantry.

The versatility of Lirah Vincotto means that it is perfect to use on, in or with dairy based or sweet desserts and it also pairs perfectly with stronger flavoured meats such as lamb or game meats. It can also be used as a glaze in the final stages of cooking meat such as pork or chicken to provide a sticky, sweet finish. In addition Vincotto can also be used similarly to caramelised balsamic vinegar as a dressing or garnish on a plate

Not sure where to start, well we have created a few recipes for you – click here to view the recipes we have created. We also have a couple of cooking videos demonstrating some of the recipes we have created. Click here to view our videos.   Want to know more then contact us or click here to buy now.

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