Strawberry-Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup aged balsamic vinegar, (no caramel coloring*)
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, peeled and grated
• 4 cranks freshly cracked black pepper, from a mill, or a few pinches
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons strawberries puree, from 4 large hulled strawberries
• 3 tablespoons oil, I used half neutral oil and half extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. In a small non-reactive saucepan add balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, freshly cracked pepper and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, cooking until reduced by half - about 5 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.
2. Puree strawberries in a small food processor. Alternately - can mince finely on a cutting board, and smash with the back of a knife.
3. Add the strawberry puree to the saucepan, mix with a small wire whisk. Whisk in 3 T. of oil slowly to emulsify.
4. Store in an airtight glass container and refrigerate. Use the vinaigrette within 2 weeks.
5. * Dangers of Caramel Coloring: PLEASE CHECK - it's in MANY Balsamic Vinegars (Try Whole Food's Aged Balsamic Vinegar, or Organic.) In contrast to the caramel one might make at home by melting sugar in a saucepan, the artificial brown coloring in colas and some other products is made by reacting sugars with ammonia and sulfites under high pressure and temperatures. Chemical reactions result in the formation of 2-methylimidazole and 4 methylimidazole, which in government-conducted studies caused lung, liver, or thyroid cancer or leukemia in laboratory mice or rats.
6. Acceptable Balsamic Vinegar Ingredients: Organic wine vinegar, organic concentrated grape must, organic cooked grape must.

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This recipe may not be reproduced without the consent of its author, Karen Sheer.