. . . made the traditional Italian wayIf you've ever had the privilege of tasting traditional Italian balsamic vinegar, you know that its rich, layered complexity and intensity is universes away from the pale imitations commonly available in the US.Traditional Italian balsamic vinegar comes from a specific region in Northern Italy known for its sweet grapes. These grapes are picked at the peak of ripeness and crushed to make a juice which then undergoes a lengthy and exacting process of double fermentation (first to alcohol and then to vinegar) and aging and reduction in a series of wooden barrels made of a variety of different woods - oak, chestnut, mulberry, ash, cherry, juniper and other fruitwoods, each of which imparts its particular flavor to the vinegar. Balsamics can be aged over a hundred years, and small bottles are sometimes sold for more than $150.Contrast this to what's packaged in fancy bottles and commonly sold in the U.S. as balsamic vinegar: conventional grape juice mi…

With warmer weather, grilling fish and meat outside is a great way to enjoy the fresh air. But there’s a catch: high heat used in grilling reacts with proteins in the meat to form cancer-causing toxins called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). The longer these proteins are cooked, and the higher the temperature used, the more HCAs develop. This is one reason why people eating high meat diets get more cancer. If that’s not bad enough, fat dripping into fire produces another cancer-causing compound, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Smoke dense with PAHs gets into lungs and also coats the meat being cooked. Fortunately, you can greatly reduce HCAs and PAHs and the damage they do: Trim fat. This reduces the formation of PAHs as less fat drips into the fire. Use smaller, thinner cuts of meat to reduce cooking time. Flipping burgers once a minute versus only once reduced cooking time in one study by 1.8 minutes, and cut HCAs by more than 11-fold. Score thicker cuts of meat…