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?

It starts with distilling molasses.
 
 
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 RUM GOT 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, sugar, since rum is made from sugar cane.

 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RUM

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

[2] Add the basic grade, known a light, silver, white and other names, to an iced coffee for Jamaican Iced Coffee (both photos courtesy Appleton Estates rum).

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

Aged rums will differ based on the type of barrel and length of time in the barrel. Anejo means old in Spanish; Extra-Anejo is the most aged rum you can buy.

The better rums are made with high-quality molasses, which contains a higher percentage of fermentable sugars and a lower percentage of chemicals.*

[5] 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:
Here are recommended brands from Ethan Trax at MentalFloss.com. Unlike pricey aged whiskey, you can pick up some for $25 and $40.

 
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.

*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.

[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:

[1] A slice of classic lemon meringue pie (photo courtesy IncredibleEgg.org). [2] The Atlantic Beach Pie variation substitutes a crunchy saltine crust (photo courtesy Crook’s Corner | Our State magazine). [3] You can never have too much meringue (photo courtesy McCormick; here’s the recipe). [4] Chess pie is a lemon custard pie baked in an all-butter pie crust (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, celebrating one of America’s favorite pies.

THE HISTORY OF LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Lemon-flavored custards, puddings and pies date to the Middle Ages, which concluded in the 15th century. Meringue was perfected in the 17th century.

The modern lemon meringue pie is a 19th-century recipe, attributed to Alexander Frehse, a baker in the Swiss canton of Romandie. By the late 19th century, the dish had reached the U.S. and achieved popularity.

It combines a lemon custard single crust pie with meringue, the fluffy topping made from egg whites and sugar, baked on top. Here’s the classic lemon meringue pie recipe.

Fast-forward a century to Atlantic Beach Lemon Pie, a Southern specialty from the beaches of North Carolina.

It’s a lemon meringue pie with a twist: It has a crunchy, salty crust made from crushed saltine or Ritz cracker crumbs.

It fell out of fashion for decades, until it was rescued from obscurity by Chef Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Chef Bill added his own touch, substituting whipped cream for the meringue topping.

Chef Bill has been generous with his recipe. We encountered this recipe in OurState, magazine in Greensboro, North Carolina, whose editor asked him to write about it. Here’s the original article.

RECIPE: ATLANTIC BEACH PIE

Ingredients For The Crust

 
Ingredients For The Filling

 
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*To get more juice from a lemon (or any citrus), microwave it for 10 seconds. Then roll it on the counter, exerting pressure with your palm. You’re now ready to halve and juice it.
 
Ingredients For The Garnish

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Place the crackers in a plastic bag, seal and crush crush with a rolling pin into tiny, flaky pieces. You will have about 2½ to 3 cups of cracker crumbs. Do not use a food processor or you will end up with cracker dust that doesn’t work.

2. ADD the sugar, then knead in the butter until the crumbs hold together like dough. Press into an 8-inch pie pan. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes or until the crust colors a little. While the crust is cooling…

3. BEAT the egg yolks into the milk, then beat in the citrus juice. It is important to completely combine these ingredients.

5. POUR into the shell and bake for 16 minutes until the filling has set. The pie needs to be completely cold to be sliced. Serve with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of sea salt.
 
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PIE?

Check out the different types of pie in our yummy Pie Glossary.
 
PIE HISTORY

The ancient Egyptians, who were great bread bakers, worked out the details of early pastry. Theirs was a savory pastry: a dough of flour and water paste to wrap around meat and soak up the juices as it cooked.

Pastry was further developed in the Middle East and brought to Mediterranean Europe by the Muslims in the 7th century. Another leap occurred in the 11th Century, when Crusaders brought phyllo dough back to Northern Europe (the First Crusade was 1096 to 1099).

Greek and Roman pastry did not progress as far as it could have because both cultures used oil, which can’t create a stiff pastry. In medieval Northern Europe, the traditional use of lard and butter instead of oil for cooking hastened the development of other pastry types.

Pies developed, and the stiff pie pastry was used to provide a casing for the various fillings. By the 17th century, flaky and puff pastries were in use, developed by French and Italian Renaissance chefs. These pastry chefs began to make highly decorated pastry, working intricate patterns on the crusts.
  

When you encounter a bumper crop of tomatoes or see a great sale on tomatoes past their peak: roast them! You can use any fresh tomato: beefsteak, cherry, grape, plum, roma; conventional or heirloom.

Healthful and delicious, you can serve them as a side with anything, add them to salads and pasta, serve them with a cheese course, and on and on.

There are so many ways to use this basic recipe. Some of our favorites:

 
RECIPE: OVEN-ROASTED TOMATOES

This slow-roasted recipe requires 20 minutes prep time and 1 hour of cook time. It makes enough for leftovers, which can be added hot to pasta, cool to burgers, salads and sandwiches. Use them within a week.

Roast a mix of sizes and colors for a more beautiful presentation.

Ingredients For 10 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F with a rack in the center. Line a shallow roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. PREPARE the tomatoes: Wash, remove any stems and slice them in half lengthwise (with large tomatoes, make a few thick slices). Gently scoop out the seeds with a small spoon. Set the tomatoes, cut side up, in a single layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the thyme and garlic.

3. ROAST for 40 minutes, then increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Continue to until the tomatoes caramelize, about 20 minutes.

4. TURN off the oven and let the tomatoes sit inside for 10 minutes. Remove the pan to a rack and let cool completely.
 
PLUM TOMATOES & ROMA TOMATOES: THE DIFFERENCE

If you wonder why plum tomatoes (a.k.a. Italian plum tomatoes) and roma tomatoes look the same, it’s because for the most part, they are.

The plum tomato can be oval or cylindrical, while the roma is oval or pear-shaped. Their vines are slightly different.

They are meatier subspecies, with less liquid and seeds than other tomatoes. That’s why they’re preferred for canning and for tomato sauce.
 
FUN TOMATO FACTS

The scientific name of the tomato is Solanum lycopersicum. Individual sizes from cherry to beefsteak are subspecies of lycopersicum.

Tomatoes are members of the Solanaceae family, popularly called the nightshades. Botanically they are berry*-type fruits.

Other edible nightshades include eggplant, naranjilla, potato (but not sweet potato), tomatillo.

Another popular nightshade is the chile pepper: hot and sweet varieties and the spices and condiments made from them, such as cayenne, chili powder, hot sauce and paprika.

Tomatoes originated in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where thousands of different types grew wild. They were first cultivated by the Incas and spread to Central America, the Aztec Empire.

[1] Beautiful heirloom tomatoes (photo courtesy The Chef’s Garden). [2] Simple roasting produces glorious results (photo courtesy Hidden Valley). [3] Roasted cherry tomatoes (photo courtesy Good Eggs | San Francisco). [4] Heirloom roma tomatoes (photo courtesy Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

When the Aztecs began to cultivate the red berry* from the Andes, they called the new species xitomatl (hee-toe-MAH-tay), meaning “plump thing with navel” or “fat water with navel.”

The Spanish arriving in what is now Mexico called the tomato tomatl (spelled tomate). The Spanish called the smaller green fruit, called tomatl by the Aztecs, tomatillo.

Tomate first appeared in print (in Spanish) in 1595 [source and a deeper discussion].
 
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*The scientific use of “berry” differs from common usage. In botany, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower. The outer layer of the ovary wall (the pericarp) develops into an edible fleshy portion. Thus, “berry” includes many fruits that are not commonly thought of as berries, including bananas, cucumbers, eggplants, grapes, tomatillos and and tomatoes. Paradoxically, fruits not included in the botanical definition include strawberries and raspberries, which are not true berries [source].
  

[2] This recipe from Cook’s Country layers the cake, sherbet and ice cream in a springform pan lined with lady fingers (photo © Cook’s Country).

[3] Prefer a drink? Try a Creamsicle shake or cocktail (photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma).

The Creamsicle® was created by the Popsicle Corporation, established in the Depression by Frank Epperson, who had invented the Popsicle®. The vanilla ice cream pop, coated with orange sherbet, became a sensation.

Today Creamsicle® and Popsicle® are registered trademarks of the Unilever Corporation. Any company wishing to use the name for a product must get a license from Unilever.

But in the Wild West of online recipes, anything goes.

Here’s more Creamsicle history.

Since August 14th is also National Creamsicle Day, take a look at other Creamsicle-inspired food.
 
FAVORITE CREAMSICLE VARIATIONS

The easiest, and a favorite of ours, is a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream and orange sorbet (mango sorbet is a great substitute).

You can also make vanilla cupcakes with orange frosting or top vanilla ice cream with orange liqueur.

Here are more celebratory recipes:

 
Also check out fior di Sicilia, an Italian essence used to flavor baked goods and beverages. Its flavor and aroma are reminiscent of a Creamsicle.
 
RECIPE: CREAMSICLE MILKSHAKE

Make this recipe, from Williams-Sonoma kitchens, in 5 to 10 minutes.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the ingredients in a blender and process on the low setting. If the shake is too thick, add more milk until the desired consistency is reached.

2. POUR the shake into a tall glass and garnish as desired.