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Rum

Page history last edited by S.E.Dogan@warwick.ac.uk 8 years ago

 

 

Rum

 

 

Introduction


 

“An alcoholic spirit distilled from molasses and other sugar-cane products, prepared chiefly in the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America; a serving or variety of this” (OED)

 

The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of rum identifies the ingredients that the spirit is produced from and where the spirit originates from. 

 

Although rum was first shipped to England in 1660's, it was not popularised until after the mid-eighteenth century. Rum became increasingly popular following the 1759 grain crops failure in Britain which caused a rise in the prices of grain, and with it an increase in the prices of alcohols distilled from grain. As rum is distilled from molasses or fermented sugar canes, its production was not affected by the grain crops failure and so it became higher in demand amongst consumers. 

 


                                                                                                                       

 

Image 1: A rum decanter made in Bristol, 1790-1810. Currently stored in the V&A collections

Drinks in the eighteenth century were often served in a decanter, a container made of fine glass, rather than from a bottle or cask to make a beverage suitable to be served from a table. 

 

 

 

   

                                            

 

Rum, a slave produced commodity


 

 

Conflict occurred in late eighteenth century Britain due to the ethical and human rights issues concerning the rum trade. For example, William Fox, a radical eighteenth century pamphleteer, wrote An address to the people of Great Britain in 1791 encouraging them to abstain from consuming West India rum for ethical reasons. Fox argues that “if we purchase the commodity we participate in the crime” (Fox, 3). He appeals to the people of Great Britain to refrain from consuming rum by identifying their consumption of the product as responsible for encouraging the “crime” that is West Indian Slavery. Fox strongly believed that if individuals boycotted rum, West Indian Slavery could be weakened as its economic support would decline:

 

“West Indian Slavery must depend upon their support for its existence, and it is in the power of every individual to increate, or to diminish its extent” (Fox, 2).

 

 



Image 2: The title page of William Fox’s An Address to the People of Great Britain, 1791

                                             

 

 

In response to Fox’s ethical concerns surrounding the consumption of rum, several pamphlets were published the following year in 1792, some supporting his arguments and others disputing them. In the pamphlet Strictures on an address to the people of Great Britain, on the propriety of abstaining from West-India sugar and rum, the author refutes Fox’s argument. The author argues that Fox’s argument is “utterly false: were every individual inhabitant of Europe to abstain from the use of West-Indian produce, so far from lifting slavery it would have a contrary tendency. It will ruin both planters and slaves. […] Famine and despair would drive the poor helpless Africans to highest pitch of desperation” (5). The author goes on to argue that rum, along with other West-India productions, are not luxuries and are necessary articles to society.

 

Another pamphlet published in 1792, supports the arguments presented in Fox’s 1791 pamphlet is Considerations; addressed to professors of Christianity, of every denomination, on the impropriety of consuming West-India sugar & rum, as produced by the oppressive labour of slaves. In this pamphlet, the author stresses that the consumption of rum, a product produced by the slave trade, inevitably supports the existence of the slave trade. The author reiterates the arguments made by Fox but the author’s reasoning is narrowed down to a religious perspective, the predominant argument to abstain from consuming rum is Christian duty. The author also writes that during the late eighteenth century, people did actively abstain from slave produced goods in an attempt to end slavery:

 

 

“since the legislature of this country has declined to comply with the wishes of people of almost every religious denomination, numbers have so far commiserated the situation of their afflicted brethren, as to deny themselves, at least, the use of sugar and rum; believing that the disuse of these articles only, by a number, would effectually abolish the slave trade, ease the burthens of those already in slavery, and eventually procure their freedom” (2). 

                                     

 

 

 

The product of a waste product


 

 

Rum was distilled using molasses; the waste product left behind after sugar was extracted from sugar canes. According to Eva-Sabine Zehelein, this waste product was initially used to feed cows and slaves and it was also used as mortar before it was used to produce the alcoholic spirit (143). In contrast to other alcoholic beverages, rum was produced using a waste product rather than the agricultural products that other alcoholic beverages were made from. For example, cider is made from apple crop, and grain is an ingredient in both beer and whisky (143). Rum became an increasingly popular drink in England when British grain crops failed in 1759 causing grain prices to rise. The 1759 failure in grain crops in England was highly significant to the popularisation of rum in England as it did not affect the production of rum because the raw product for rum was a product extracted from sugar. Compared to the 207 gallons of rum imported in 1698, 2 million gallons of rum was being imported annually into England by 1775.

 

In his General instructions for the choice of wines and spirituous liquors, Duncan Mcbride describes the taste of rum made from molasses to be inferior to the taste of rum made directly from the juice of sugar canes. He explains that the taste and flavour of rum varies depending on factors such as the ingredients it is distilled from, the locations it is produced in, and whether the product has been aged or not:

 

 

“The rum made in Jamaica has always been esteemed the best both for flavour and taste: when it gets age it becomes very mild, with a pleasant oily taste, and is very wholesome to be used in punch. The best rum is that which is made directly from the cane juice, usually called cane spirits. Barbadoes is remarked for this kind of spirit. It is likewise made in all the other islands with different degrees of perfection. The rum made from molasses is very inferior to the others. All the rums, made in the different islands, may be distinguished by their different flavours” (Mcbride, 51-52)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medicine


 

 

Similar to wine, rum was also believed to have medicinal qualities in the eighteenth century. As Zehelein explains, rum had ten times the amount of the calories found in whole milk and therefore was very beneficial with regard to nutrition (143). Rum was used in the eighteenth century as an ingredient in medicines used to cure both cattle and people.

 

In the September 1749 issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine: and historical chronicle, a recipe to treat diseased cattle is listed:

 

 

“As soon as the distemper appears in any one or more of the cattle in any farm, make some good, strong, and genuine rum punch, in proportion to the number of cattle in such farm. Then give every beast one, two, or three half pints, in proportion to the size of the beast; and that will put an immediate stop to the contagion; or, if not, it may be repeated” (389)

 

 

The extract below, taken from The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 20, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Amusement reads:

 

 

“A farmer at Shipton-upon-Stour, lately lost some sheep for some days, in the late snow. When he found them, some appeared to be just dying with cold; to such as appeared most affected, he gave a little rum, mixed with water, which presently revived them. It is remarkable, that he got all he gave rum to safe home, but several of the others died on the road” (107).

 

 

This extract is dated forty years after the publication of the recipe for the diseased cattle in The Gentleman’s Magazine, thus opinions of the nutritional benefits of rum for cattle remained strong throughout the eighteenth century. The first extract is much more precise about the rum that must be used and the method that must be followed to correctly treat cattle. However, the second extract does not identify a method that must be followed when giving rum to cattle. Additionally, in the second extract, the farmer waters down the rum he gives the cattle whereas the first extract emphasises that the rum should be of a high quality for it to be beneficial. 

 

 

Image 3: Extract from The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 20, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Amusement, 1789

 

 

Unlike the medicinal use of rum for cattle, in the medicinal use of rum for curing people’s health, the ingredient rum is often substitutable with brandy. A recipe in the Newcastle general magazine, published in 1754, lists rum as an ingredient used in the medicine to cure the bite of a mad dog. As the text in the extract below shows, “rum or brandy” (384) can be used as one of the ingredients.

 

 

Image 4: Recipe from Newcastle general magazine, 1754

 

 

 

Another example is a recipe in the London magazine, or, Gentleman’s monthly intelligencer, published in 1772, in which rum is used to cure the stone and gravel. The extract below reads: “fill the vessel up with brandy, or (for want of that spirit) with rum” (285). As the spirits are interchangeable based on the users “want of that spirit”, the author indicates that these spirits were selected based on preference the flavour of their taste. Moreover, the fact that neither recipe states the quantity of rum that must be used further supports that rum was used in medicines for people to improve the taste of the medicine. 

 

 

 

Image 5: Recipe from London magazine, or, Gentleman’s monthly intelligencer, 1772

 

Although these sources suggest that rum is added to the medicine for want of a better flavour, Robert Dossie advocates the health benefits of rum in An essay on spirituous liquors, with regard to their effects on health. Rum and brandy may be listed as substitutes for each other in eighteenth century medicines, but Dossie argues that rum is the superior drink for such uses. He comes to this conclusion because of "arguments drawn from the principles of chemistry, experiments on the different kinds of distilled spirits, and psychological observations" (48) and also because physicians "in general agree in allowing Rum to be far preferable to Brandy, with respect to health" (48). Therefore, while recipes for medicines may indicate that rum and brandy are selected based on preference of taste, these liquors were also chosen between based on their health benefits. 

 

 

In Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, rum is used to treat faintness and fatigue by applying the rum to the skin. After discovering Pamela following her failed attempt to escape, Mrs. Jewkes and Nan use aged and warmed rum to nurse her. Pamela's shoulders, arms and ankles are bathed with old rum to relieve her of her symptoms:

 

 

“I was so weak, when I had got up Stairs, that I fainted away, with Dejection, Pain and Fatigue; and they undress’d me, and got me to Bed, and Mrs. Jewkes order’d Nan to bathe my Shoulder, and Arm, and Ancle, with some old Rum warm’d” (177)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drinks


 

Punch 

 

Similar to medicinal recipes, cooking recipes in the eighteenth century that used rum as an ingredient, frequently noted that the rum could be substituted for brandy. Rum was commonly used to make punch in the eighteenth century. Punch was made from the acid of the citrus fruits, lime, orange, or lemon. Then the chosen liquor (rum, gin, brandy, or arrack) was added, the constant stating that these liquors are substitutable in punch recipes show that the importance of rum as an ingredient in punch was based on taste preferences. Below are some examples of punch recipes. 

 

 

 

 

    

 

Image 6: Recipe from The frugal house-keeper, or, the compleat cook, 1778                                                   Image 7: Recipe from The housekeeper’s valuable present:

                                                                                                                                                                         or, lady’s closet companion, 1792

 

 

Shrub

 

Another beverage mixed using rum is shrub, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "A prepared drink made with the juice of orange or lemon (or other acid fruit), sugar, and rum (or other spirit)" (OED). 

 

The use of acidic fruits in both punch and shrub, indicates that rum was commonly consumed and enjoyed when mixed and flavoured with acidic fruits. 

 

Susanna Maclaver's Cookery, and pastry (1777) book includes a recipe for making a twenty-pint barrel of double-rum shrub.

 

The recipe instructs: 

 

"Beat eighteen pounds of single-refin'd sugar; put it into the barrel, and pour a pint of juice upon the sugar; shake the barrel often, and stir it up with a clean stick till the sugar is dissolved. Before you squeeze the fruit, spare four dozen of the lemons and oranges very thin; put on some rum on the rhind, and let it stand until it is to go into the barrel: when the sugar is all melted, fill up the barrel with the rum, and put in the rum that the rhind is amongst along with it. Before the barrel is quite full, shake it heartily, that it may be all well mix'd; then fill up the barrel with the rum, and bung it up; let it stand six weeks before you pierce it. If you see it is not fine enough, let it stand a week or two longer" (237-237)

 

Elizabeth Raffald's book The experienced English housekeeper, for the use and ease of ladies, housekeepers, cooks, & co. also includes a recipe for shrub with the following instructions:

 

"Take a gallon of new milk, put to it two quarts of red wine, pare fix lemons and four Seville oranges very thin, put in the rinds and the juice of twelve of each fort, two gallons of rum and one of brandy, let it stand twenty-four hours, add to it two pounds of double refined sugar, and stir it well together, then put it in a jug, cover it close up and let it stand a fortnight, then run it through a jelly bag, and bottle it for use" (335)

 

the way it's served - bottle and casks instead of punch bowls - ALSO rum is not listed as substitutable with other drinks as it is in the recipes for punch 

 

In contrast to punch recipes, shrub recipes involve a more complex use of rum as an ingredient and the recipe is left to stand for a number of weeks before being served. Additionally, the mixture was stored in casks and bottles when making shrub whereas punch was served in a punch bowl. While rum is frequently noted as substitutable with other alcoholic beverages in punch recipes, it is an essential ingredient in shrub recipes as no other alternative ingredient is listed to be used in its place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Low-Life, or, One Half of the World Knows Not How the Other Half Lives (1764)


 

The mentions of rum in Low-Life are a negative portrayal of the drink. Rum in this text is linked to unproductivity:

 

 

“The Post-Boy Publick-House, in Sherborn-Lane, near the Post-Office, full of Post-Boys, who are regaling themselves with Brandy, Rum, Beer, Geneva, and Bread and Cheese, while the Gentlemen of that Office are sweating over large Candles, and preparing the several Mails to go to all Parts of Great-Britain, Ireland, and other Places in his Majesty’s Dominions” (7)

 

 

The duties of the post boys are completed by the gentlemen of the office as the post boys are preoccupied with consuming alcohol, including rum. The presentation of rum here is that it has a harmful influence on people as it causes them to neglect their responsibilities.

 

Rum is also used by sailors in Low-Life as a means of deceiving custom-house officers so that they can smuggle goods on board without paying duties:

 

 

“Sailors on board inward-bound Merchant Ships in the River, bringing out their Rum and Brandy, and contriving how to make the Custom-House Officers on board drunk, that they may get on Shore such Goods as they have neither Money or Inclination to pay Custom for” (17)

 

 

Here, the consumption of rum once again causes a neglect of duties as it is expected that the drunken custom-house officers will not be able to perform their work under the influence of rum.

 

 

 

 

 


 

Annotated Bibliography

 

 

 

Primary Sources

 

Anon. Considerations; addressed to professors of Christianity, of every denomination, on the impropriety of consuming West-India Sugar & Rum, as produced by the oppressive labour of slaves. Manchester: printed by C. Wheeler, 1792. Historical Texts. Web. 11 Jan 2016.

In this pamphlet, the author recaps arguments from William Fox’s 1791 pamphlet but from a strongly Christian perspective. The author argues that it is a Christian duty to abstain from consuming goods that are produced as a product of oppression.

 

Anon. ‘Recipe for the diseased Cattle’. The Gentleman’s Magazine: and historical chronicle. London: Chatto & Windus, 1749. British Periodicals. Web. 27 Jan 2016.

This extract was useful because it supported my research of rum being used to treat sickly cattle. The mid-century publication date sustained that the medicinal properties of rum were advocated throughout the century.

 

Anon. Strictures on an address to the people of Great Britain, on the propriety of abstaining from West-India sugar and rum. London: sold by T. Boosey, 1792. Historical Texts. Web. 11 Jan 2016. 

This pamphlet was useful as it responds directly to William Fox’s 1791 pamphlet, thus presenting the opposing arguments on whether consuming rum was supporting slavery in West India.

 

Anon. The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 20, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Amusement. 1789. Defining Gender. Web. 2 Feb 2016.

Although the source was not relevant to the topic of rum, there is a brief section describing rum being used to aid cattle in poor health was useful to my research of the medicinal uses of rum.

 

Dossie, Robert. An essay on spirituous liquors, with regard to their effects on health; in which the comparative wholesomeness of rum and brandy are particularly considered. London: printed for J. Ridley, 1770? Historical Texts. Web. 18 March 2016. 

This essay was very insightful as it contrasted the health benefits of rum an brandy in medicines, helping me to develop my research on the use of rum in medicine. 

 

Fox, William. An address to the people of Great Britain, on the utility of refraining from the use of West India sugar and rum. London: sold by I. Phillips, George Yard, Lombard-Street; M Gurney, no. 128, Holborn-Hill, 1791. Historical Texts. Web. 11 Jan 2016.

This pamphlet demonstrates the conflict that surrounded the use of slave produced goods such as rum. It was interesting because it identified that people were becoming concerned with how their growing consumerist culture was affecting other societies.   

 

Lowlife, or, One Half of the World Knows Not How the Other Half Lives. London: Printed for John Lever. 1764. Print.

A source that provided insight into the negative impacts of rum, that drunkenness causes a neglect of responsibilities.

 

MacIver, Susanna. Cookery, and pastry. As taught and practised by Mrs Maciver, teacher of those arts in Edinburgh. Edinburgh: printed and sold by the author, 1777. Historical Texts. Web. 26 March 2016. 

The usefulness of this cook book to my research was limited as while it included a recipe for rum shrub, this was the only recipe it included that uses rum as an ingredient. 

 

McBride, Duncan. General instructions for the choice of wines and spirituous liquors. Dedicated to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. London: sold by J Richardson; J. Debrett; T. Murray; and other booksellers in town and country, 1793. Historical Texts. Web. 13 March 2016.

McBride provides an overview of the various alcoholic beverages, detailing their taste, flavour, production and quality. It was interesting because it was one of the few sources I found that described the taste of rum.

 

Raffold, Elizabeth. The experienced English housekeeper, for the use and ease of ladies, housekeepers, cooks, & co. London: printed for R. Baldwin, 1799. Historical Texts. Web. 26 March 2016. 

Raffold's cook book provides only two recipes for the use of rum in recipes, both of which are recipes for making shrub. 

 

 

Richardson, Samuel. Pamela. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.

The bathing of Pamela in warm rum was interesting as the previous medicinal found in my research all used rum as a cure through consuming it rather than applying it to the skin.  

 

 

 

Secondary Sources

 

Kiple, Kenneth F., and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, eds. The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cambridge Histories Online. Web. 14 March 2016.

This text was useful as it gave a concise overview of the discovery of rum and its entrance into Britain. What proved to be of interest was the mention of the impact of the grain crop failure of 1759 that explained the popularisation of drinking rum in England.

 

Zehelien, Eva-Sabine. “‘Been to Barbados’: Rum (bullion), Race, the Gaspee and the American Revolution”. Drink in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Ed. Susanne Schmid and Barbara Schmidt-Haberkamp. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2014. 141-150. Print.

Despite the main focus of this essay being on rum in America, the essay was useful because it was informative about the ingredients used to make rum.

 

 

 

Images

 

Image 1: Rum decanter. Photograph: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Victoria and Albert Museum. Web. 22 Feb 2016.

 

Image 2: William Fox. An Address to the People of Great Britain, on the utility of refraining from the use of West India sugar and rum. London: Sold by I. Phillips, George Yard, Lombard-Street; M Gurney, no. 128, Holborn-Hill, 1791. Historical Texts. Web. 11 Jan 2016.

 

Image 3: The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 20, or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Amusement. 1789. Defining Gender. Web. 27 Jan 2016.

 

Image 4: Newcastle general magazine, 1748-1760. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1754. British Periodicals. Web. 2 Feb 2016.

 

Image 5: London magazine, or, Gentleman’s monthly intelligencer, 1747-1783. London: Hunt and Clarke, 1772. British Periodicals. Web. 12 March 2016.

 

Image 6: The frugal house-keeper, or the compleat cook. London: 1778. Historical Texts. Web. 12 March 2016.

 

Image 7: Abbot, Robert. The housekeeper’s valuable present: or, lady’s closet companion. Dublin: printed by N. Kelly, 1792. Historical Texts. Web. 11 March 2016.

 

 

 

Oxford English Dictionary Definitions

 

Rum - http://0-www.oed.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/view/Entry/168746?rskey=kKMRNc&result=2

 

Shrub - http://0-www.oed.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/view/Entry/178955?rskey=tJo14X&result=2#eid

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

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