Balsamic Vinegar

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

The only vinegar with real sugar in it — and still 79 calories per hundred.

Stage by stage

Sweet and sour (Taste): The sweetness is grape must, not added sugar — unusual among vinegars.
Small serves (Stomach): A tablespoon is around 2 g of sugar and 12 calories.
With oil (Small intestine): Paired with oil in a dressing, it accompanies the fat that carotenoids need.
Acetic acid (Circulation): Shares the acetic acid of other vinegars, at the same modest effect size.

Timing

With oil rather than alone. A vinegar-only dressing removes the fat that made the salad’s carotenoids available.

Time to effect

Per tablespoon: About 2 g of sugar and 12 calories.
—: Nothing accumulates at culinary quantities.

Allergens

Contains: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Cheap — roughly £1.5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Acetic acid
Potassium

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 79
Protein: 0.5g
Carbohydrate: 15g
of which sugars: 15g
Fibre: 2.1g
Sodium: 23mg

Food vs. supplement

Balsamic occupies an odd position: it is the only vinegar with meaningful sugar, and the amount used is small enough that this barely matters. The version that does matter — the thick glaze — is a different product sold under a similar name.

Kitchen tip

Vinegar and glaze are different products. The glaze is reduced further, often has sugar added, and gets drizzled far more generously.

Common myth

“Balsamic is full of sugar — I use plain vinegar instead.” In reality: It has 15 g per 100 g, all of it from the grapes, and a tablespoon in a dressing is about 2 g. That is not the thing worth avoiding. Balsamic glaze is: it is reduced much further, usually has sugar added, and gets drizzled more freely. And a vinegar-only dressing costs you the oil that makes the salad’s carotenoids absorbable, which is a worse trade than the sugar was.