My balsamic went weird

Tiglath

Went to open a new bottle yesterday only to find the contents were completely solid, so had to chuck it out. Was this due to the sugar caramelizing? It was a recent bottle.

sweetilemon

Was it with olive oil? I know it solidifys in the cold - just needs warmed slightley.

Tiglath

No it was just the vinegar. Our kitchen is very cold though so maybe that's it.

Seakay

That sounds really weird. Vinegar would not go solid in the cold, the only way to get vinegar solids in the normal way would be through evaporation, but that would take a long while without heat and there would be hardly anything left. I would contact the shop and or the manufacturer to see what they had to say about it.

Tiglath

I threw it out so have no idea which brand it was or where I bought it now, but I'll do that if it happens again.

Oscar_the_Pug

How weird - mine's just done that too! It was quite ancient though: so maybe that's a lesson to me to buy a smaller bottle next time!

BTW the kitchen doesn't feel terribly chilly but the olive oil I bought from Aldi a few weeks back still hasn't thawed out totally - the store was very cold in the freezing weather, and it was full of white flakes. Maybe I should try keeping it in a warmer spot...

aliama

Apparently it's due to the fruit sugars solidifying. Try soaking the bottle in a bucket of warm water for 10 minutes, and hopefully that will sort it.