[1] Grilled mushrooms and grilled pineapple with baby arugula and shaved parmesan. Enjoy the earthy mushrooms with a darker beer: amber lager, porter, or stout (photo courtesy Urban Accents). [2] Corn should be enjoyed with a lighter beer: American lager, German wheat beer or saison. Here’s the recipe for this delicious plate of elote, Mexican corn on the cob (photo courtesy Good Eggs | SF.

Even in the depths of winter, where there is no fresh produce in our region, we go to buy apple cider, applesauce, baked goods, kimchi, pickles and anything else they make.

The folks at (Let’s Grab a Beer) took the opportunity to pair beer styles with particular types of produce. They selected some summer fruits and vegetables and paired them with beer styles that bring out the flavors in the food.

For your next cook-out or hang-out, try these recommendations and see if you agree.

If you need an explanation of a particular beer style, head to our Beer Glossary.
 
Chile Peppers
Beer Styles: American Lager or IPA.
Pairing Notes: Spicy, hoppy beers are a great choice for chiles, whether served raw in a dish, grilled shishito peppers or roasted poppers (stuffed jalapeños). Lager can help to tame the heat if the dish is too fiery.
 
Corn
Beer Styles: American Lager, German Wheat Beer or Saison.
Pairing Notes: A light and slightly sweet beer will complement each bite of the sweet corn and salty butter. Try it with everything from corn salad to elote, Mexican seasoned corn on the cob.
 
Green Beans
Beer Styles: English Brown Ale or Belgian Wheat Beer (Witbier).
Pairing Notes: Green beans tend to go well with beers that are both malty and sweet like the English Brown Ale. If you prefer your green beans with a citrusy dressing, try a Belgian Wheat Beer instead.
 
Grilled Mushrooms
Beer Styles: Amber Lager, Porter, Stout.
Notes: The roasted flavor of malted barley in these darker beers complements the earthiness of mushrooms. Try them with grilled stuffed mushrooms, or in a portabella salad with feta, this one with goat cheese or a grilled corn salad (no cheese). For a great beer snack or warm-up to dinner, try this Mexican layered salad, great as a beer snack.
 
Melons
Beer Styles: American Light Lager, German Wheat Beer, or Belgian Wheat Beer.
Pairing Notes: The fruity flavors produced by the yeast in German Wheat beers will often match up well with certain melon flavor profiles.

For a cheese course, snack, or an accent to other recipes, try these pairings:
 
Acidic Cheeses (e.g. Sharp Cheddar)
Beer Styles: American Pale Ale, IPA, Porter.
Pairing Notes: Sharp cheeses are generally more bitter, and thus well suited to the bitterness found in hoppier beers. For some contrast to an acidic cheese, also try porter.
 
Nutty Cheeses (e.g. Gruyère)
Beer Styles: American IPA, Dark Lager, Oktoberfest Ale.
Pairing Notes: For harder cheeses that have a nutty aftertaste, pick a beer that is more barley-forward yet balanced. For contrast, try an American pale ale.
 
Tangy Cheeses (e.g. Goat Cheese)
Beer Styles: American Light Lager, Belgian Wheat Beer.
Pairing Notes: The fruity and citrusy flavors of wheat beers sync up beautifully with tangy cheeses. These bright, carbonated beers are refreshing in warmer weather.
 
Nuts
Beer Styles: Amber Lager, English Brown Ale.
Pairing Notes: For nuts that are both salted and roasted, go with a darker beer that has some complementary roasted barley flavors. These two styles also have a refreshingly crisp finish.
 
Now, put some pairings together to see what you like best.

[1] Melon dishes like this honeydew and cucumber salad are delicious with wheat beer and light lagers (photo courtesy Good Eggs). [2] The best tomatoes of the summer—heirloom tomatoes—are splendid with an American ale, lager or IPA. [3] A classic Italian dessert, strawberries with a balsamic drizzle (and optional shaved Parmesan) pair best with citrussy beers and dark beers. Here, the berries are served with raw sugar and lemon zest for dipping (photo courtesy Driscoll’s.

Rum can be a confusing spirit for the everyday consumer. What’s silver versus white rum? What’s silver versus gold rum? Which one should you use for a rum cocktail?

Below:

>The different types of rum.

> The difference between rum and cachaca.

> A brief history of rum.

> Rum brands to knowl

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

Rum cocktails
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RUM

There are several types of rum, known as grades of rum, in the industry.

he different types are based on factors such as distillation technique, blending technique, alcoholic content, and style preferences of the country or the individual distiller. One of the easiest differentiators to understand is aging. Also, the better rums are made with high-quality molasses, which contains a higher percentage of fermentable sugars and a lower percentage of chemicals.*

With rum, it’s important to note that unlike Cognac or whisky, rum doesn’t have universally enforced aging regulations across all producing countries. Some Caribbean nations have their own standards.

Spanish for “old,” theThe category sits between añejo (1-3 years) and extra añejo (longer aging) in many classification systems. See Añejo and Extra Añejo, above.
 
 
WHAT ABOUT CACHAÇA?

Cachaça (ka-SHA-suh) is a sugar cane distillate made in Brazil, in the style of gold or dark rum. It is the ingredient used in the popular Caipirinha (kai-puh-REEN-ya), Brazil’s national cocktail.

Cachaça is often called “Brazilian rum,” but the Brazilians take exception to that. They consider their national drink to stand in a category of its own.

The actual difference between rum and cachaça, which taste very similar, is that rum is typically made from molasses, a by-product after the cane juice has been boiled to extract as much sugar crystal as possible.

Cachaça is made from the fresh sugar cane juice (but so are some Caribbean rums, particularly from the French islands). Both are then fermented and distilled. The style is usually like that of light rum, but some cachaça brands are in a style similar to gold rums.
 
Cachaça has its own holiday: International Cachaça Day is June 12th.

> Here’s more about cachaça.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RUM

Sugar cane grew wild in parts of Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated sometime around 8,000 B.C.E., probably in New Guinea. It arrived in India, where better extraction and purifying techniques were developed to refine the cane juice into granulated crystals.

Sugar then spread quickly. By the sixth century C.E., sugar cultivation had reached Persia; and, from there to elsewhere in the Mediterranean, brought by Arab expansion and travel.

In 1425, sugar arrived in Madiera and the Canary Islands. In 1493, his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane seedlings. They were grown, first in Hispaniola and then on other islands. The main sugar-exporting countries in the Caribbean today are Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Guyana and Jamaica.

In the 17th century, Caribbean sugar cane planters produced sugar by crushing sugar cane, extracting and boiling the cane juice, then leaving the boiled syrup to cure in clay pots. A viscous liquid would seep out of the pots, leaving the sugar in the pot.

The seepage was molasses—and no one wanted the thick, cloying by-product. It was fed to slaves and livestock, but a monumental amount of molasses was still left over. Sugar was a great cash crop for European planters, but two pounds of sugar yielded a pound of molasses!

There were no customers or known uses for molasses, so the planters dumped it into the ocean: very sweet industrial waste.

Finally, slaves figured out a use, and a great one at that. They fermented the molasses and distilled it into alcohol, to yield what became known as rum (source).

Then, playing around with the now-valued molasses, it was discovered to be as good as sugar in baked goods, and more flavorful.

How Did Rum Get Its Name?

No one knows. The origin of the name rum (ron in Spanish, rhum in French) is unclear. Historians have offered these possibilities:

 
Our vote is for saccharum (saccha-rum), sugar, since rum is made from sugar cane.

[2] Add the basic grade, known a light, silver, white and other names, to an iced coffee for Jamaican Iced Coffee.

[3] A Cuba Libre, known by many Americans as a Rum & Coke (photo © Bacardi).

[4] For the rum connoisseur, nothing beats aged rum, Añejo or Extra Añejo. Most premium producers offer a variety of ages. Appleton’s expressions include 12, 17, 18, 21, 25, 50 and 51 years.

[6] The classic rum drink: the Daiquiri (photo © Tempered Spirits).

For mixed drinks, use the basic light/silver/white rum. Here are the top rum cocktails.

For sipping, look to aged rums. Compared to aged Scotch, they’re relatively inexpensive.

Here are some tasting notes from Ethan Trex at Mental Floss, with some recommended brands. Unlike pricey aged whiskey, you can pick up some for $25 and $40.

 
 
THE YEAR’S 15 RUM HOLIDAYS

*The chemicals, which are used to extract sugar crystals from the sugar cane, can interfere with the actions of the yeast that fermentat the molasses into rum.

†Black rum is so-named for its color; brown rum and red rum are dark rums described by their colors.

‡Cachaça and rum are both spirits distilled from sugarcane, but they differ in their raw material and production methods, leading to distinct flavor profiles. We include Cachaça as a “cousin” of rum—it’s been called Brazilian white rum. It’s the national spirit of Brazil, made there exclusively from fresh sugarcane juice, giving it a bright, vegetal, and grassy flavor. Rum, on the other hand, is typically made from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, resulting in a sweeter, sometimes caramel-like or spicy flavor. The Caipirinha (kai-pee-REEN-yah) is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with lime juice and sugar like a Daiquirí but with cachaça instead of rum. Here’s more about it.

‡‡The solera method of aging developed in Jerez, Spain for aging sherry wine is used by some producers of aged rum blends. In this system, rums of different ages are blended, and the age statement on the bottle typically reflects the oldest rum in the blend.
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

 Viejo, Spanish for “old,” is a descriptive label for an aged rum rather than a universally regulated age category. Its meaning and placement vary by producing country and brand; it may appear independently or in terms such as extra viejo. It should not automatically be treated as equivalent to, or as a category between, añejo and extra añejo. 
  

[1] Champagne with gummy bears. [2] Mojito with a gummy worm garnish—although a Mezcal drink might make more sense with the worms (photos 1 and 2 courtesy Monarch Rooftop). [3] Gummies slithering in a Tequila Sunrise (photo courtesy Drinking In America).

They’re not just multivitamins but biotin, fiber, fish oil, melatonin, vitamin C and more. (Caveat: Before you get too excited, check the grams of sugar on the bottle.)

Let us introduce you instead to our kind of adult gummies: soaked in wine or spirits.

Some background: A few months ago, a candy boutique in Los Angeles, Sugarfina, introduced rosé-infused gummy bears. Thanks to social media, they were sold out by pre-order before they even arrived from Germany; there’s a long waiting list (Monarch Rooftop says the number now exceeds 14,000).

We had tried the Champagne Gummies, which are still available. There also are Cuba Libre Gummies, infused with rum and Coca-Cola.

We wouldn’t have known the Sugarfina gummies were infused with Champagne, much less with Dom Perignon. (We deduced that the amount of champagne used was “just a splash.”)
 
REAL ADULT GUMMIES

Monarch Rooftop, a lounge with a view of the Empire State Building (71 West 35th Street, Manhattan), infuses its own gummies for a selection of creative cocktails. The current menu offers:

 
They inspired us to infuse our own gummies by soaking them in alcohol. We first tried spirits, then wine. We briefly considered a Boilermaker: beer with whiskey-infused gummies instead of the shot. Maybe for the Super Bowl?

Whatever you want to infuse, the recipe is below.
 
National Gummy Worms Day is July 15th, giving you plenty of time to test your own cocktail menu.

MAKE YOUR OWN ALCOHOL-INFUSED GUMMY CANDY

The hardest part of this is deciding which spirit and which fruit juice to use. You can halve the spirits and juice and make a split batch to see which you like better. Flavored vodka is even better.

Beyond Gummy Bears & Worms

So many decisions! There are gummy butterflies, Easter bunnies, fish, flower blossoms, frogs, fruits, gummy rings, lobsters, peaches, penguins, pigs, rattlesnakes, sharks, Smurfs, soda bottles and turtles.

You can make your own adult gummy recipe book, with different shapes and flavors for different occasions. Tequila-infused gummies for your Margarita? Certainly: And get the Mexican Hat gummies.

Check out the novelty gummies on Nuts.com.

 
RECIPE: ALCOHOL-INFUSED GUMMY CANDIES

Plan ahead: The gummies need to infuse in alcohol for five days.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PACK the gummies into a lidded container and cover with the spirit. The alcohol should barely cover the top of the gummies.

2. STIR, cover with the lid and place the container in the refrigerator.

3. STIR twice a day for five days. If you use a large enough container, you can simply shake it. When ready, drain and serve.

That’s it!
 
What If They’re Too Alcoholic?

First, taste them on the third day. If they’re what you expect, drain them and enjoy. If they’re still too boozy, try them with a cocktail. The combination may provide the right counterpoint. If not…

You can fix the batch by draining the alcohol and covering the alcohol in apple juice. Shake and taste in a few hours. They may need to juice-infuse overnight.
 
THE HISTORY OF GUMMY CANDY

Gummi candy was first produced by Haribo, a Bonn, Germany, confectioner. Haribo is a contraction of Hans Riegel Bonn.

Founder Hans Riegel invented the Dancing Bear, a fruit gum made in the shape of a bear, in 1922. It was succeeded in 1967 by what would become known worldwide as Gummi Bears, which would spawn an entire zoo of gummi animals.

Gummi worms, however, were introduced by another gummi candy manufacturer, Trolli (named for forest trolls), in 1981.

Many Americans use the English spelling, gummy, instead of the German gummi.
 

[1] Wine-infused dummies with sangria. Given all the fruit, we’d serve them on the side. Here’s the recipe from TrendHunter.com. [3] A root beer float with soda bottle gummies. Add vanilla vodka along with the root beer and ice cream. Check out these alcoholic root beer float recipes on Yummly.com. [4] What to drink while watching “Shark Tank.” At the Sugar Factory in New York City, it’s called The Ocean Blue (photos 2 and 3 courtesy Sugar Factory).

Beyond filling candy bowls, you can: