Fair Trade Products

Fair Trade Products at vomFASS UK

This collection holds ten items: seven fruit vinegars and three chutneys. The vinegars are the Calamansi Balsam, the Mango Balsam, the Quince Balsamic Vinegar, and four from the Balsamic Star range (Passion Fruit, Plum, Wild Blueberry and Wild Mango). The chutneys are Mango, Pear and Saffron, and Raspberry. If you are here to work out what to do with them, the short version is this: the vinegars go on salads, cheese and fruit, and the chutneys go with cheese, cold meat and curry.

The Fruit Vinegars

Seven of the ten items are vinegars, and each is built on fruit rather than on the plain sharpness of a malt or white wine vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is a dark, concentrated vinegar made wholly or partly from grape must, the freshly crushed juice of grapes including skins, seeds and stems. That grape must base gives balsamic its body and sweetness, and it is why a fruit balsamic behaves less like a table condiment and more like a syrup you can pour.

Calamansi, Mango and Quince

The Calamansi Balsam takes its name from the calamansi, a small, sharp citrus fruit widely used in Filipino cooking. It is the most citrus-forward direction here, for when a dish needs a lift rather than more sweetness. The Mango Balsam sits at the opposite end, tropical and sweet.

The Quince Balsamic Vinegar falls between them. Quince is the orchard fruit Britain mostly meets as membrillo, next to a wedge of Manchego, and that pairing is the clue: it belongs near cheese.

The Balsamic Stars

Four items come from the Balsamic Star range: the Wild Mango Balsamic Star, the Wild Blueberry Balsamic Star, the Passion Fruit Balsamic Star and the Plum Balsamic Star. All four are listed as vinegars.

The fruit in the name is the thing to choose on. Wild Blueberry and Plum are the darker two, and suit red meat, game and hard cheese. Wild Mango and Passion Fruit are the brighter two, and suit chicken, fish, salads and fruit. Start with less than you think: a teaspoon across a plate does more than a splash.

The Three Chutneys

A chutney is a condiment associated with the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, made in many forms, some raw and some cooked down with sugar in the way mango chutney is.

• The Mango Chutney is the familiar one, and it earns its keep well beyond curry night. It belongs on a cheeseboard next to a mature cheddar as much as beside a poppadom.
• The Pear and Saffron Chutney is the more unusual of the three. Pear and saffron is a gentler, more perfumed direction than mango, and it works with cold ham, pork and soft cheese.
• The Raspberry Chutney is the sharp one. Raspberry against rich, fatty meat is a long-standing British combination, so think duck, game, pate, or a baked camembert.

How to Use Fruit Vinegars and Chutneys

Both do the same job from opposite directions: they put sweetness and acidity next to something rich.

• Dressings. Three parts oil to one part fruit vinegar, a pinch of salt, nothing else. A fruit balsamic carries its own sweetness, so skip the honey an ordinary vinaigrette would want.
• Over cheese. A few drops of Quince Balsamic Vinegar or Wild Blueberry Balsamic Star over a hard cheese does a chutney's job with a lighter touch.
• Over fruit and ice cream. Wild Mango or Passion Fruit Balsamic Star over strawberries, or over vanilla ice cream. Fruit balsamic on ice cream sounds wrong and is not.
• Finishing a hot dish. Add fruit vinegar off the heat. Boiling drives off the aromatics you paid for.

About vomFASS UK

vomFASS pioneered the refill concept in 1994, and the model travelled to Britain from Germany. The name is German for "from the barrel". Bring an empty vomFASS olive oil, balsamic vinegar or spirit bottle into the Stamford shop in Lincolnshire and it is refilled from the cask, the model vomFASS has run on for over 30 years.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in the Fair Trade Products collection at vomFASS UK?

Ten items: seven fruit vinegars and three chutneys. The vinegars are the Calamansi Balsam, the Mango Balsam, the Quince Balsamic Vinegar, the Wild Mango Balsamic Star, the Wild Blueberry Balsamic Star, the Passion Fruit Balsamic Star and the Plum Balsamic Star. The chutneys are Mango Chutney, Pear and Saffron Chutney, and Raspberry Chutney.

What is balsamic vinegar?

Balsamic vinegar is a dark, concentrated vinegar made wholly or partly from grape must, which is freshly crushed grape juice including the skins, seeds and stems. That grape must base gives balsamic its body and its sweetness, and it is why a fruit balsamic pours more like a syrup than like a sharp table vinegar.

How do I use a fruit balsamic vinegar?

Use less than you would use of an ordinary vinegar, because it is concentrated. Three parts oil to one part fruit vinegar makes a dressing that needs no honey added. A few drops work over hard cheese, over strawberries, or over vanilla ice cream. When finishing a hot dish, add it off the heat, because boiling drives off the aromatics.

Which chutney goes with cheese?

All three, in different directions. Mango Chutney suits a mature cheddar, the Pear and Saffron Chutney suits softer cheese along with cold ham and pork, and the Raspberry Chutney suits pate, duck and game.

The Passion Fruit Balsamic Star and the Plum Balsamic Star complete the range on this page, and both take the same teaspoon-at-a-time approach as the rest of the Balsamic Stars.