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History
Rum
comes from a grass whose botanical name is Saccharum
Officinarum, but is more commonly known as sugarcane. The earliest
mention we have of sugarcane dates back to 327 BC, when Alexander the
Great returned from his expedition to India. Whether sugarcane originated
in northeast valleys of India or in the islands of the South Pacific we
may never know, but it was finally brought to Europe by the Arabs after AD
636. Still, crystallized sugar was a costly rarity until Columbus took
cane cuttings from the Canary Islands to the West Indies. It prospered so
well there that the sugar made from cane became inexpensive and could be
enjoyed by everyone.
Rum
is any alcohol distillated or a mixture of distillates from the fermented
juice of sugarcane, and sugarcane molasses. For other sugarcane by
products distilled at less than 190 proof (whether or not such proof is
further reduced before bottling to not less that 80 proof). The distillate
must possess the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to
rum
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Clasifications
There
are 4 main classifications of rum: the first is the very dry, light bodied
rums, generally produced in the Spanish speaking countries, of which
Puerto Rican rum is today’s outstanding example; the second medium-boiled
rums ; the third is the rich, full, bodied, pungent rums usually produced
in the English speaking islands and countries, the best example of which
is Jamaican Rum; and the Fourth in the high bodied but pungently aromatic
East Indian Batavia arak rum from Java.
Rums
are mainly produced in the region of the Caribbean Sea, including the West
Indies and the Northern Countries of South America. Light bodied rums are
produced in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican
Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico. Spain, and Canada. Medium
bodied rums, which are more in the style of the light rums, include those
from Haiti, Barbados, Trinidad, and Guyana (known as Dameraran rums). The
full bodied pungent rums came primarily from Jamaica and Martinique. This
does not mean. that Puerto Rico produces only light bodied and Jamaica
only full bodied rums. Both countries can produce both types, but they are
better known for their own traditional type.
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Production
The
production of rum begins with harvesting the cane. The freshly cut cane is
brought to the sugar mills, where it is passed through enormous, very
heavy crushing rollers that express the juice. The Juice is boiled to
concentrate the sugar and evaporate the water. Then it is clarified. The
result is a heavy, thick syrup.
The
syrup is pumped into high speed centrifugal machines, whirling at over
twenty two hundred revolutions per minute, where the sugar in the syrup is
crystallized and separated from the other solids. After the sugar is
removed, what remains is molasses. Sometimes this still retains up to 5%
sugar. The only economical way to recover, or not to loose the residue of
sugar, is to ferment this molasses and distill into rum.
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