Yo Ho Ho… by Rosanna Mignacca … And a bottle of Caribbean rum. Its warm, mellow flavor and divine aroma call to mind tropical paradise and images of romance and adventure, seafaring pirates and fearless explorers, daring smugglers and ruthless rumrunners.
Considered to be the world’s oldest spirit, rum has a vibrant history blended into its tantalizing taste – which only adds to its immense appeal. In fact, no other spirit has been so embraced by such a multitude of cultures and cuisines. The origins of rum are linked to the spread of sugarcane. Alexander the Great, after conquering India, returned to Egypt with this sweet that had been cherished by the Chinese for 4,000 years. He described it as “the weed that gives honey without the help of bees”.
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Sugarcane had almost made its way around the globe before it found a perfect new home in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus brought sugarcane to the islands in 1493. Later, Ponce de Leon, the first Spanish governor of Puerto Rico, planted the first Caribbean cane fields, which were to become vital to the local economy and to the world’s demand for the finest spirit. Some say that his legendary search for a “fountain of youth” was in fact a quest for a source of pure water to use in the distillation of rum!
Photo by Dreamstime
Columbus may be credited with bringing the essential ingredient for rum to the islands and de Leon may have sought ways to perfect it, but it was the people of the Caribbean who worked long and lovingly to create one of the world’s most delightful nectars – the rich rum of the islands. Distilleries producing this luscious liquid gold are now found throughout the Caribbean. Rum is made by distilling sugarcane byproducts that are formed in the process of manufacturing sugar. Molasses – the thick syrup that
remains after sugarcane juice crystallizes from steady boiling – is used as the base for rum, although the cane juice itself, or other sugarcane residues, are also used. The molasses is allowed to ferment, then distilled to a clear liquid that is aged in oaken casks for up to seven years. The golden color of darker rums results from the absorption of substances from the oak, but it is sometimes also darkened by the addition of caramel. The lighter, drier – but no less delicious – rums are more rapidly fermented with cultured yeasts and are aged from one to four years. E
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