Rum

#### Rum. Rum is included in the monographs of this work as a representative of a group of "aromatic" alcohols which are suitable for use in flavors. Rum is mainly produced as a potable spirit and sold from the factories in various strengths with respect to alcohol content. The lowest alcohol content is 43% (by volume) and this type of rum is often used "as is" in drinks. The highest alcohol content in West Indian or Réunion rums is about 73% by volume. This type is suitable for flavor work. The production of rum has been described comprehensively in works, dealing specifically with potable spirits. Rum originated in the West Indies which is still the most important area of production. Being a by-product of the sugar production from sugar cane, rum is produced in all the sugar-cane growing areas of the world. Australia, South Africa, Réunion, Central America, the U. S. A., etc. are among the more important producers outside the West Indies. The method of production varies considerably from one area to the other, and not all countries produce a truly natural rum. Artificial or natural flavors may be added after ageing of the distilled alcohol in oak vats, but Jamaican and Réunion rums are true distillates with no artificial additions. Their flavor is due to minute amounts of essential oil which is present in the hydro-alcoholic distillate. Rum also contains significant amounts of ethyl- and amyl esters, etc. but these have only an indirect effect upon the flavor of rum ("lifting" effect). Rum of 72/73% alcohol strength is an excellent menstruum for the extraction of certain natural flavor materials. Freshly roasted cocoa beans can be extracted with rum in place of pure ethyl alcohol to produce a delightfully aromatic cocoa- extract, which, after rectification, yields a colorless, highly aromatic and well-balanced flavor base for cocoa-liqueur flavors, ice-cream flavors, dessert flavors, etc. Coffee beans (also roasted) may be extracted in a similar way. **Sherry**** ****Wine**** **contains only about 20% alcohol by volume, but it can be redistilled gently in an all-glass still to produce a 60%-alcohol distillate which is an excellent menstruum for extraction of cocoa, coffee, vanilla, etc. The use of rum and sherry in flavor work is thus a secondary one, but the effect is inimitable and valuable. The Minimum Perceptible of pure Jamaica rum (72.5% alcohol by volume) is about 200 mg%, and the suggested use level is 200 to 500 mg%. These figures apply to the use of rum in flavors as a "fond", an undertone ingredient, not as a potable spirit (in which state some people drink it straight!). Rum has a perceptible effect in ice cream flavors of the rum, vanilla or coffee type at the concentration of 500 mg%. This concentration is well on the safe side—even for children. It is equivalent to 0.36 grams of pure ethyl alcohol per 100 grams of ice cream. Beer is ten times stronger. The so-called "**Rum Ether**" or "**Rum Oil, Artificial**" are ill-defined commercial products with little similarity to the flavor of natural rum from fermented sugar cane residues. A very strange and complicated formula for the production of artificial rum ether is still used in Europe and the U.S.A. According to the prescription, a mixture of ethyl alcohol, pyroligneous acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, furfural, fusel oil, diacetyl or acetyl methyl carbinol, St.. John's bread, potato starch, manganese peroxide and concentrated sulfuric acid is set aside for digestion in 24 hours. A quicker reaction is started after 1 hour of refluxing (about 90°C.) and subsequently 24 hours of digestion. A certain amount of distillate is then collected under gentle distillation of the reaction mixture. The distillate is sometimes used for a second reaction with similar ingredients (see above), digestion and distillation. The distillate is washed and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate. Thus produced, the "rum ether" is alcohol- and oil-soluble. It is used as an intensifier in rum flavors for candy, ice-cream, etc. and occasionally in "bay rum" perfumes as a topnote for the bay oil. Vanilla tincture, castoreum tincture, maraniol, ethyl vanillin, anisyl alcohol, ethyl undecylenate, ambrette seed tincture, pineapple flavor concentrate, etc. may be added for proper fixation and modification of this artificial rum flavor. Very little is known about the identity of the flavor principles in natural rum.