Balsamic vinegar

Balsamic vinegar is notable for histamine, fructose, sucrose, tyramine, salicylate and nickel. Clear on FODMAPs, lactose, gluten, oligosaccharides, sorbitol and oxalates.

Yes — balsamic vinegar is high in histamine. Balsamic is the most concentrated vinegar on this axis and the one that most rewards reading the label: traditional balsamic is cooked grape must aged in a series of wooden casks for twelve to twenty-five years. Two fermentations, decades of wood, and reduction on top - everything that builds amines, applied for longer than to any other vinegar. Ordóñez measured the amines directly and put balsamic, with Pedro Ximénez Sherry, at the top of the five vinegars surveyed — total biogenic amines across the set ran from 23 to 1,445 µg/L, and even the highest of those is below what wines carry.

Balsamic vinegar contains only low levels of fructose. Balsamic vinegar is cooked grape must, so the grape's fructose is concentrated - then partly consumed by the long fermentation. It is poured in teaspoons.

Balsamic vinegar contains only low levels of sucrose. Balsamic vinegar is cooked grape must, and grape sugar is free glucose and fructose rather than sucrose. The syrupy sweetness is real but it is not sucrose.

Balsamic vinegar contains only low levels of tyramine. Balsamic vinegar is cooked must aged for years in wood, so two fermentations have run through it. Surveys of vinegars do find biogenic amines, but at levels a tablespoon of dressing does not carry far - the portion is what keeps this low, not the process. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.