Pear Vinegar

Pear Vinegar. Made from the Hirsch pear, tart, full-bodied and made for bitter salads.

Pear Vinegar from the Gölles manufactory: tart, full-bodied and made from the Styrian Hirsch pear, aged for at least one year in a stainless steel tank, with 5 percent acidity. No sweet pear balsam, no vinegar made from table pears, no product made from concentrate.

Pear Vinegar is a tart fruit vinegar from Riegersburg, in which the tannins of the Hirsch pear provide structure. Radicchio, endive and chicory all present the same challenge: mild vinegars simply cannot stand up to their bitterness. This vinegar holds its own because it has a tart core of its own. On the nose, it reveals intense ripe pear, while on the palate it remains refined.

Ripe pear with a hint of blackcurrant

The pear vinegar is full-bodied and tart, with a pear note that has nothing sweet about it. In the glass, it smells of very ripe pear, followed according to the house by blackcurrant, peeled tomato and chamomile. There is also a hint of wine cellar, which many vinegars from Riegersburg share.

On the palate, it is surprisingly fine and mild for such a tart raw material. You can feel the tannins of the Hirsch pear as a gentle pull on the tongue, similar to a dry must. Five percent acidity gives it freshness.

Anyone expecting a soft, fruity-sweet pear vinegar for desserts will find it too tart. For that purpose, the pear balsam vinegar aged in oak for four years is intended. Both come from the most pear, but play completely different roles.

Radicchio, lentil salad and a drop on soft cheese

Pear vinegar is particularly suitable for bitter salads, lentil salad, mushroom dishes and gratins. For radicchio with pear slices and walnuts, mix one part vinegar with three parts rapeseed oil or pumpkin seed oil, plus salt and pepper. The tannins catch the bitter compounds instead of overpowering them.

A lukewarm lentil salad with root vegetables, which would otherwise quickly become heavy, is refreshed with two tablespoons. Over a mushroom ragout made from oyster mushrooms or button mushrooms, add a teaspoon at the end. A potato gratin gets a few splashes just before serving, giving the cream lightness.

Our tip: A single drop directly on the plate is enough for a ripe soft cheese. Gölles also recommends it for a Korean dressing, for which soy sauce, roasted sesame oil and some chili are suitable. Besides pumpkin seed oil, hemp oil and thistle oil pair well with it.

The Hirsch pear, a bulky variety with plenty of tannin

The Hirsch pear is an old Styrian most pear variety that has become rare today. The name comes from Hirsch, the Styrian word for autumn. It is harvested from September onwards, late and very ripe, because only when overripe does it reach its full aroma.

Hardly anyone likes to eat this pear raw; it was always a fruit for must and processing. Behind the rough skin lies a soft core that must be used deliberately during processing. Gölles presses the fruit, ferments the juice into must, and lets it become vinegar.

In Austria, most refers to fermented fruit juice, so a kind of pear or apple wine. Only its alcohol provides the vinegar bacteria with the material from which they form acetic acid. Without this intermediate step, no fruit vinegar is produced.

Unlike the house's vinegar classics, the pear vinegar is not aged in wood, but in a stainless steel tank for at least one year. The fruit brings its structure with it; a barrel is not necessary here. No concentrate or sulfites are added.

An unconventional vinegar for connoisseurs of tart aromas

The special thing about the pear vinegar is its character: It is not a pleasant all-rounder, but a specialist for tart and bitter ingredients. Anyone who likes cooking with chicory, dandelion or arugula will find it a suitable counterpart. It is less suitable for delicate leaf salads or fruit salads.

Young dandelion with fried bacon cubes and a dressing made from pear vinegar and rapeseed oil shows well how it carries bitterness. The tartness of the leaves and the tartness of the pear do not reinforce each other, but balance each other out.

The 250-ml bottle is enough for many salads because it is used sparingly. Together with a quince fruit vinegar, it makes a small gift for anyone who wants to discover Styrian fruit vinegars.

A vinegar with edges that shows what is inside a rough pear and brings bitter salads into balance.