Strawberries and Ice Cream with a Twist

Prep 10 mins   Eat 10 mins

What could be more simple than serving your guests a dessert of fresh strawberries and ice cream?  Strawberries are at their best right now.  Sweet, succulent and ruby red.   I needed a simple dessert to serve during our Knife Skills Workshop and we all welcomed this delicious treat.  A treat with a delicious twist…a splash of Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar poured over the strawberries and ice cream.

What you say?  Vinegar on ice cream? You wouldn’t think to pair these two ingredients ever.   But wait until you try it and you will be begging for more.

Dark chocolate on ice cream?  Now you are talking.

A really excellent balsamic vinegar is often paired with strawberries and it gives you the sweet sour thing.  P.S. Do not try this with the $3.99 bottle of balsamic vinegar  from the supermarket.

So you ask, where can you find a Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar?   I purchased the bottle pictured above at a specialty store in Palm Springs called Olive A’ Sudden.  Cute name for a store that offers tastings of various olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  It’s the kind of store you browse in while on vacation.  I tasted this stuff and realized that I must have it, even at $20 a bottle.  It sat on my shelf for a year in its packaging waiting for the right occasion or ready to be given as a gift, but I resisted…I really wanted to keep it for myself.   Although, it would make a great hostess gift when going to a friend’s house for dinner.  So, how can we get more of this sweet and sour stuff.  Veronica Foods is the maker of this product and they sell it to retail stores who private label it.  I know of several stores, Olive A’Sudden has stores in Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Chico, California.  Olive Oil and Beyond has a store on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, California.  or you can mail order it from either place.  I’m sure there are more locations across the country, but the Veronica Foods website at eoliveoil.com gives you only three locations, all in California, on their website.  You could also open your own store and sell their products if you like or private label their products for your next fundraiser.

If you’d like a new twist on strawberries and ice cream to serve your guests, order the Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar and prepare to be wowed…or visit one of the stores to taste the difference for yourself.   I enjoyed tasting the wide variety of olive oils and vinegars in store.  It helped educate my pallet to the varied differences between different olive oils.  Like fine wine, depending on what you are serving it with will help you decide what to purchase.   This Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar would taste good on a lot of things…hmmm, I’m just getting started!