Romina

Who's Behind It

Romina is a specialist in flavor vinegars and flavor oils, built on a neutral base: wine vinegar from white Trebbiano grapes. That base supports dozens of flavors, each in a 250 ml bottle. At Jimmy Loves Food there are 34 vinegars in the assortment, categorized under Exclusives, supplemented with oils like orange. The range runs from recognizable fruit to flavors you rarely find ready-made: blood orange, Amalfi lemon, amarena cherry, pomegranate and quince next to red shiso, lavender, verbena, cacao and kaffir lime. Vegetables play too, with tomato, cucumber and green asparagus. Not supermarket vinegar then, but a tool for a kitchen that steers by flavor.

What Really Sets It Apart

The difference sits in concentration and precision. Where you'd normally use a splash of wine vinegar or lemon, you work here with drops: the flavor of fruit, flower or herb sits concentrated there, on top of the acidity. That means with one product you bring two or three things to the plate at once—acidity, aroma and often color too. Think of the deep red of shiso or blood orange, or the dark tone of cacao. Because the base is always the same Trebbiano vinegar, you can weigh flavors against each other without the acidity going sideways. And because it comes in 250 ml bottles, you keep a broad flavor range in stock without having liters standing open. One small shelf of bottles covers a big part of your finishing work.

How You Stand Out with This

Deploy the vinegars at the finish, not in the pan. Heat breaks exactly the volatile aromatics of citrus, flower and herb you're paying for. A few drops of raspberry or elderflower lifts a fruit dessert or sorbet; shiso or kaffir lime gives raw fish and tartare a note guests don't immediately place; cacao or pomegranate starts a sauce of game or red meat. On the menu it's also a rule that sticks: "strawberry, verbena vinegar" reads different from "strawberry, vinegar." Build a fixed trio or quartet that fits your kitchen and let it move with the season, from summer blossom to fall fruit. That's how you make the difference on the last move, right before the plate walks out the door, with something your guest tastes nowhere else.