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This Christmas, bring the elegance of cava to your dishes

December means gatherings, toasts, and tables filled with the best of every home. And when we talk about Christmas and New Year’s Eve, cava always plays a leading role. But… what if we told you that this festive sparkling wine can also be the secret to elevating your holiday recipes?

At Badia Vinagres, we transform cava into delicate, flavourful balsamic vinegars. And this month, we want to shine a light on two of them: our cava vinegar and rosé cava vinegar. These two surprising vinegars are made from cava base wine and retain the freshness, aroma and elegance of the grape varieties used to make these sparkling wines.

Cava vinegar

This vinegar is made from the traditional cava base wine, using macabeu, xarel·lo and parellada grapes. The result is a mildly sweet-and-sour vinegar, with a fine perfume and delicate fruity notes — perfect for enhancing the subtlety of fish, oysters and all kinds of seafood.

It pairs beautifully with:

Light salads with citrus or nuts.
Delicate escabeches of white fish or seafood.
Vinaigrettes for fish carpaccios or ceviches.

A few drops over freshly opened oysters.

This vinegar doesn’t overpower — it enhances. It brings a subtle touch of acidity and aroma that elevates any festive appetiser.

Rosé cava vinegar

For our rosé cava vinegar, we use the rare and wonderful trepat grape, which gives it a pale pink hue, fruity notes and a seductively fresh character.

It’s perfect for:

Pairing with clams, razor shells or scallops.
Salads with fresh cheese and red berries.
Light seafood escabeches.
Desserts with strawberries, raspberries or wild berries.

This vinegar adds not just flavour, but also colour and aroma. Its surprising personality works beautifully in creative and sophisticated dishes — and is a great ally when you want to impress your guests with unexpected holiday starters.

The secret to elevating your festive meals may lie in choosing the right vinegar

There are many types of vinegar — as many as there are grape and wine varieties. The more care we put into the origin, variety and elaboration process, the more flavour and versatility we get in return. In Christmas cuisine, where seafood, fish and salads often take centre stage, cava vinegar and rosé cava vinegar can be your secret ingredients to turn a good dish into a memorable one.

Happy holidays!

The Taste of a Memory: Camomil Comes Back Home

Recovering Cal Badia’s most beloved liqueur: Camomil

This Christmas, we have one of those stories that can only be told from the heart. At Badia Vinagres, we’re thrilled to share the revival of a product deeply cherished by our family: Camomil, a liqueur that was first crafted at Cal Badia exactly 75 years ago. This liqueur is made from chamomile, as its name suggests, along with other herbs such as anise, rosemary, mint, orange peel, and lemon zest.

The original Camomil recipe dates back to November 17, 1950, and is part of the handwritten recipe book of Agustí Badia, founder of the vinegar house. This book, over a century old, has been passed down through generations and is one of our family’s most treasured possessions. That’s where we found the last Camomil entry. And the most surprising part? Without planning it, the final batch of this new edition was completed exactly on November 17, 2025. A coincidence that deeply moved us.

A collaboration with Tres Cadires

This revival wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of Tres Cadires, an artisanal distillery in Arbeca that shares our passion for craftsmanship. After including some of their liqueurs in our Christmas gift boxes last year, we met Andreu, the heart behind the project, who encouraged us to bring back the tradition of making liqueurs.

And so, the new edition of Camomil was born, made faithfully following the original recipe and with a 21-day maceration. After that, it is gently distilled to integrate the aromas and refine its texture. The result is a fine, aromatic, and elegant liqueur, made to accompany special moments and, above all, to enjoy calm and memorable after-dinner conversations.

A bottle that honours past and present

For this release, we wanted to preserve the original spirit in the design as well. The label is inspired by the original 1950 Camomil bottle from Cal Badia, while maintaining the graphic identity of our Gardeny vinegars and incorporating the BD seal: Badia Destil·leria, a symbol of returning to our roots.

A liqueur to celebrate

At Cal Badia, opening a bottle of Camomil was a sign of celebration: a wedding, a birth, or an important family gathering. Now we want it to become part of the collective memory again, especially for the people of Mollerussa who once tasted it or heard stories about it.

Each bottle is unique. We’ve produced a limited edition of 400 bottles, each one numbered individually. They are available exclusively at our Christmas Pop-up shop, located at Carrer del Palau 9, Mollerussa, and included in this year’s Christmas gift boxes. To reserve one, you can visit us in person or contact us directly at 973 71 17 70.

Camomil is an invitation to pause, celebrate with loved ones, and enjoy after-dinner moments with a liqueur full of flavour, history, and tradition.

Will you try it this Christmas?

Warm autumn salad with Moscatell Gardeny vinaigrette

:: Ingredients ::

225 g of mixed mushrooms (75 g portobello + 150 g shimeji)
225 g of pumpkin
225 g of sweet potato
75 g of mixed green sprouts (lettuce, arugula, spinach)
1 pomegranate, seeds removed
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Dried oregano

For the Moscatell vinaigrette:

Moscatell Gardeny balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper

:: Preparation ::

Clean and slice the mushrooms, then sauté them in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper until golden. Set aside.
Sauté the sweet potato cubes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and ½ teaspoon of oregano until tender but firm, and set aside.
Do the same with the pumpkin, sautéing it with 2 teaspoons of oil, salt, pepper, and a little oregano until cooked but still holding its shape, and set aside.
In the same pan, pour 6 tablespoons of Moscatell Gardeny balsamic vinegar and let it reduce over medium heat for 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and mix with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper to make the vinaigrette.
Plate a base of green sprouts, arrange the pumpkin, sweet potato, and mushrooms around, and sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top.
Dress the salad with the Moscatell vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Did you enjoy this recipe? Keep discovering how to use our vinegars and bittersweet products.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

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Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

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Catalan vinaigrette

:: Ingredients ::

50 ml Porto Gardeny bittersweet vinegar
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
10 g toasted hazelnuts
10 g toasted almonds
10 g pine nuts
10 g raisins

:: Preparació ::

Soak the raisins in the Porto Gardeny bittersweet vinegar in a bowl.
Crush the toasted hazelnuts and almonds using a mortar and pestle.
Toast the pine nuts in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and ½ teaspoon of salt until golden brown.
Add them to the soaked raisins along with the crushed nuts.
Stir in the remaining extra virgin olive oil.
Mix everything well and serve immediately, or store in an airtight container until ready to use.

The local nuts enrich the nutritional value of the dish, enhance the flavours and bring out the characteristic toasted aromas. This vinaigrette is balanced, rich and slightly sweet, pairing perfectly with both savoury and sweet dishes.

Try the vinaigrette with:
· Carrot cake
· Goat cheese salad with carquinyolis and quince jelly
· Zucchini and tomato carpaccio
· Red berry salad with vanilla ice cream

Did you like this recipe? Keep discovering how to use our vinegars and bittersweets dressings.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

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Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

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Mediterranean vinaigrette

:: Ingredients ::

50 ml Riesling Gardeny bittersweet vinegar
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Grated lemon zest
10 g toasted or caramelised sesame seeds
10 g of a mix of fresh aromatic herbs:
- mint leaves
- basil leaves
- rosemary leaves
- thyme leaves
- parsley leaves

:: Preparation ::

Wash the aromatic herbs well and chop them very finely.
In a bowl, mix the Riesling Gardeny bittersweet vinegar with the extra virgin olive oil.
Add the chopped herbs, sesame seeds and salt.
Grate a little lemon zest (to taste) and add it to the mixture.
Mix everything well and serve immediately, or store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Did you like this recipe? Keep discovering how to use our vinegars and bittersweets dressings.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

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Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

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Brava vinaigrette

A bold and flavorful vinaigrette, perfect for adding a spicy touch to potatoes, grilled vegetables, or meats.

:: Ingredients ::

50 ml Gardeny Merlot sweet and sour vinegar
50 g mayonnaise or aioli
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Tabasco (or another hot sauce)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika

:: Preparation ::

In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise or aioli as the base.
Slowly pour in the Merlot vinegar while whisking to combine.
Add the salt, hot sauce, and smoked paprika.
Mix everything with a fork or whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
Taste and adjust the heat or acidity to your preference.

Tip: Serve cold and consume within 24 hours to enjoy the best flavor and texture.

Did you enjoy this recipe? Keep discovering how to use our vinegars and sweet & sour condiments.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

7 January, 2019

Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

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Fruity vinaigrette

:: Ingredients ::

50ml Gardeny’s Orange Honey Bittersweet Vinagar
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
100 ml seasonal fruit juice (such as: orange, mandarin, pear, apple, peach, strawberry, grape, melon…)
½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon of ginger powder
½ teaspoon of nutmeg powder

:: Preparation ::

Make fresh juice using the selected seasonal fruit (image: orange).
Mix the juice together with the powdered spices (cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg).
Add Gardeny’s Orange Honey Bittersweet Vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.
Stir everything together and serve immediately or store in a tightly sealed container.

This vinaigrette offers a touch of freshness and vitality thanks to the balanced combination of natural fruit, spices, and honey, providing a subtle contribution of vitamins from the seasonal fruit, digestive benefits from the spices, and the gentle, sweet note of honey.

Try this vinaigrette with:

Vegetables with chicken.
Fresh pasta with Parmesan cheese and a sauté of bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and seasonal fruit cubes.
Oat cookies with fruit.
Salmon tartare.

Did you enjoy this recipe? Keep exploring how to use our vinegars and sweet-and-sour products.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

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Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

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Vinegar: the invisible essence of many sauces

Some ingredients go unnoticed, yet without them, nothing would taste quite the same. Vinegar is one of them. Discreet and essential, it’s the invisible foundation that brings balance, depth and character to countless recipes. In our kitchens, it’s almost always present — in salads, marinades, pickles, escabeches… and of course, in sauces. And its presence is no accident.

Common everyday sauces like ketchup, mayonnaise or salsa brava all share one thing in common: vinegar. This ingredient not only provides that characteristic tang, but also helps preserve, balance and deepen flavour, and contributes to a smoother texture.

Vinegar acts as a natural flavour enhancer, supports emulsification and improves food preservation, especially in homemade recipes. In fact, the most widely consumed sauces in Spain traditionally contain vinegar:

Salsa brava: often includes vinegar to intensify the heat and add acidity.
Ketchup: vinegar is essential to balance the sweetness of tomato and sugar.
Mayonnaise: the acid helps emulsify the egg and oil and stabilises the mixture.
Mustard: many versions include vinegar to enhance flavour and improve texture.

Other sauces, such as romesco (traditionally served with calçots in Catalonia), mojo picón from the Canary Islands, or cocktail sauce (widely used with seafood), also rely on vinegar.

Sauces of the World

This ability to bring coherence and harmony is universal. Wherever there’s a cuisine with identity, there’s vinegar. In China, it’s at the heart of sweet and sour sauce; in Japan, it elevates the flavour of ponzu; in Argentina, it energises chimichurri; and in the Philippines, vinegar is not just added — it’s the base of iconic dishes like adobo, both preserving and flavouring.In Eastern Europe, vinegar appears in tangy or spicy sauces that accompany smoked meats, as well as in traditional pickles and mustards. In France, vinaigrettes are a whole universe of their own, often made with wine, cider or champagne vinegar. In the UK, vinegar is a non-negotiable for fish & chips. And in India, it’s essential in spicy marinades and curries like vindaloo, reflecting the legacy of Portuguese cuisine.

Why do these sauces contain vinegar?

Vinegar plays several essential roles in sauces — each equally important:

It balances flavours
Its natural acidity cuts through fats, brings freshness and softens sweetness or intensity from ingredients like mustard, tomato or eggs. This ability to round out flavours is key for well-balanced sauces.

It preserves

Vinegar is a natural preservative. Long before refrigerators, our grandparents used vinegar for pickling and to extend shelf life. Even today, its role in preserving food — especially in artisanal or homemade sauces — remains vital.

It affects texture and colour

In some sauces, such as sweet-and-sour blends or emulsified types, the kind of vinegar used can subtly influence both texture and appearance. Choosing the right vinegar is as much a technical decision as it is a creative one.

Play, combine and create

Vinegar isn’t just an ingredient — it’s a gastronomic tool. It allows you to modulate intensity, add contrast or softness, and create dynamic flavour profiles between sweetness, saltiness and bitterness. The type of vinegar you choose can completely change the outcome of a dish.

For example, aged balsamic brings depth and woody notes, apple vinegar offers lightness and freshness, cava vinegar adds elegance and subtlety, and sweet-and-sour vinegars open up a world of surprising and layered flavours.

At Badia Vinagres, we’ve spent generations exploring this world of balance and aroma. We believe a good vinegar can transform a sauce — and, with it, an entire dish. Our natural vinegars, crafted with care, time and respect for the ingredient, are made so that chefs and food lovers alike can create sauces with their own unique personality.A Riesling sweet-and-sour vinaigrette can elevate a white fish. A Merlot sweet-and-sour salsa brava can pair beautifully with your favourite tacos. Roasted vegetables shine with apple and ginger vinegar, and a cheese sauce made with Port sweet-and-sour vinegar and wholegrain mustard combines intensity and elegance. Every vinegar is an opportunity to play, combine and create.

Because behind many sauces, there’s a story. And often, that story begins with vinegar.

A Promising Harvest for Our Vinegars

September is harvest time, a key moment that defines the quality of the raw material for everything we do: the grape. Because without good grapes there is no good wine. And without good wine there is no good vinegar.

After several difficult years marked by extreme drought, the 2025 campaign arrives with good news for the wine sector. According to data from INCAVI and the Catalan Association of Oenologists, in Catalonia and much of Spain growers have been able to harvest grapes in much better sanitary condition and with superior quality. This improvement in conditions is key to producing wines and therefore vinegars with personality, structure, and clean aromas.

Favorable climate conditions and higher yield

Autumn and spring rains and a moderate summer have favored the recovery of the vineyard. The production areas we usually work with at Badia Vinagres—such as the wineries in Penedès for white varieties and those in Tarragona and Lleida for red varieties—have approached this harvest with much more optimistic expectations.

Although there were some episodes of diseases such as mildew and hailstorms in certain areas, the first estimates point to a 10% increase in production compared to last year. But beyond quantity, what we truly celebrate is quality. This year the land gives us grapes with a good balance between acidity and alcohol content, an essential condition for obtaining top-level vinegars.

Quality grapes for excellent vinegars

At Badia Vinagres we work with carefully selected grapes and wines, made from local varieties that respect the environment. The quality of the grape not only affects the organoleptic profile of the vinegar but also its yield, stability, and, of course, its cost. That is why we closely monitor each campaign.

This 2025 harvest gives us the opportunity to continue innovating, to continue betting on natural vinegars with character, made with raw materials that meet our most demanding standards.

A future full of challenges and also of hope

Despite this respite, the wine sector continues to face major challenges such as climate uncertainty, the rising cost of grapes, and the urgent need to practice more sustainable viticulture. Cooperation between growers, wineries, and producers like us will be essential to ensure the continuity and excellence of a product that has been part of our culture since ancient times.

At Badia Vinagres we remain true to our commitment: to transform the best raw material into unique vinegars.

Pear Gazpacho with Muscatel Vinegar

:: Ingredients ::

1 kg ripe tomatoes
60 g green pepper
80 g cucumber
50 g sweet onion
600 g ripe pear
100 g celery
100 g hazelnuts
70 ml Gardeny muscatel vinegar
150 ml water
70 ml virgin olive oil
1 or 2 garlic cloves (optional)
Salt
Hazelnuts for garnish

:: Preparation ::

Wash and dice the tomatoes, celery and green pepper. Then clean, peel and chop the pear, cucumber and onion, and set everything aside.
Peel the garlic and place all the chopped ingredients in a blender with the Gardeny muscatel vinegar, water, hazelnuts, salt, and olive oil. Blend everything until smooth. If desired, strain it.
Chill the gazpacho in the fridge until serving time.
Serve well chilled with a celery leaf, pear slices, and hazelnuts. You may drizzle with muscatel vinegar and olive oil to taste.

Did you enjoy this recipe? Keep discovering how to use our vinegars and sweet & sour condiments.

Broccoli dumplings with sweet and sour sauce

7 January, 2019

Coconutbowl with Tempranillo wine vinegar

7 January, 2019