There was a long time in my life that I didn’t think much about vinegar – it was something that came from a bottle and I considered it to be something manufactured as opposed to crafted.  Vinegar is much closer to wine and beer than the commodity I considered it to be and, at it’s finest forms, relates closely to wine and specialty cheese.

Essence of Niagara is bottled by Niagara Vinegar Co. and was a wonderful discovery at the Good Food show.  The Essence line of products was purchased by Niagara Vinegar about 18 months ago.  The company manufactures jellies and vinegars using local area grapes from vineyards as the common inspiration in it’s products.

They sold a sample pack of 6 Wine Vinegars (for an incredible deal of $5) which includes Chardonnay Peach, Sauvignon Blanc Cucumber, Vidal Maple, Baco Noir Blueberry, Baco Noir Raspberry and Vidal Cranberry Plum.  We were fortunate to try several of the Vinegars and I was thrilled with the fresh tartness offered in these sweet elixirs.  These are surefire winners for salad dressings and other cooking – I am excited to use the maple the next time we put salmon under the broiler (the maple is from actual maple syroup).  There was an honest pride apparant in the products and the kind team who presented them to us.

I was also thrilled with many of their jellies – including this gorgeous Red Pepper Jelly:

We purchased a different jar – a wine vinegar jelly which features cranberries and cinnamon to bring a sweet bite that is calling out for the closest piece of cheese it can find.  It was interesting, original and tasty!

Essence of Niagara is essentially exactly what it claims to be.  I admire the careful attention to finding new ways to share the grapes from Niagara with the rest of us and really recomend you sample some of their wares (a list of stores can be found on their site).