I have no idea if balsamic vinegar can improve with age! I have read you can add port and sugar to cheaper balsamic vinegar and reduce it to make a nice faux aged... have yet to try it, but would like to.

I also have leg and foot cramps, and have taken potassium supplements along with Gatorade - the Gatorade, much as I don't like it, seems to help the most. Both were recommended to me by my doctor. DH drinks pickle juice, but now he is drinking Gatorade too (and he has far less leg cramps as well). I didn't know to put straighten and put weight on the cramping appendage until DH told me. I'd tried massaging to no avail. It hurts only briefly to stand on a foot or leg that's cramping, but the cramps go away very quickly.

Darn! There was a baby water when my kids were little that the pediatrition said to buy instead of gatorade to re-hydrate, usually from the flu. I'm thinking something like pedialite? or something like that< You might ask at a pharmacy. Doesn't pickle juice have a ton of sodium?

2Many, I'll give the Gatorade a try. Been having bad leg and foot cramps at night. Putting weight on the leg and straightening it does help me. The worst are cramps up my shin. :-O

Yes, there is a ton of salt in pickle juice. I also use gatorade and Powerade.

following has some useful information

this link right here

We went to a restaurant in Florence (mostly a pizza place that catered to American tourists), and they had a bottle of faux Balsamic vinegar that was their own concoction, and I called them out on it. I said they could not call it Balsamic because it was not from Modena, and I believe that is the law in Italy. However, most of the American tourists (who seemed like college students) loved it, but I hated it and refused to use it. The waiter we had was also a bit surly and would only speak English to me, even though I spoke perfectly correct Italian to him. We only went to that restaurant because it was across the street from our hotel and it was our last evening there. Food was otherwise okay, but not as good as in other restaurants in Florence.

Balsamic vinegar has to be aged in barrels to improve with flavor - it does not improve with age once it has been bottled, unlike some wines, or at least that is my understanding.

Agree with Lars....what makes aged balsamic "aged balsamic" is the evaporation and concentration if flavor it gets from cask ageing The cheap stuff you buy has sugar added and other stuff... it's still good...but I keep the $15 for 4 oz stuff to enjoy a drop at a time!
Didn't know balsamic or pickle juice for leg cramps....If I can drink enough water and get enough magnesium, I am good....but I way too often wake with cramps in my feet and up my shin. Maybe I'll take to keeping a bottle of pickle juice by my bedside and see if that helps....but my goal is prevention!!

Found a balsamic specialty store ... vomfoss ... in the chicagoland on the way out. spent way too much on aged balsamics and the store guy confirmed the fact that the bottled stuff won’t improve with age. it was slow and we talked a long time... and tasted many many types. I need to return there for a scotch tasting trip....

Sounds like you got your "someday" wish bragu! Happy for you : )

A generous friend once gave me a small bottle of what turned out to be aged balsamic vinegar. After getting used to the difference in texture I enjoyed every single drop. So far though I haven’t braved buying the really expensive stuff myself. But boy was it delicious!

agmss, you sound like me! Before I knew what aged balsamic meant, I thought why would people ever want to drizzle any kind of tart vinegar on fruit, or meat??? Little did I know! What a joy to actually get some good aged balsamic and learn the difference!

I've been to a vinegar tasting place with our beloved Annie [miss you!], in Chicago. It wasn't vomfoss. It was Old Town. They also have flavored olive oils. Loved, loved White Peach and Chocolate balsamic vinegars.

Someone once gave me bottles of both peach and raspberry balsamic vinegar. They were very good. Wish I could remember the brand.

I've been happy with any vinegar I've had from "O"...and their oils. Also like their cool bottles.

https://www.ooliveoil.com/