The 100% Sicilian agricultural rum is an ancient jewel of the Italian agri-food heritage that is reborn in Avola, where it was produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. After a thousand years of sugarcane cultivation in Sicily.
100% Sicilian agricultural rum, 300 years of history
The rebirth of rum 100% Sicilian agricultural rum is the result of the intuition and initiative of Corrado Bellia. The lively director of the Mandorla d’Avola Consortium, very active among other things in the fight against counterfeiting and frauds on shelled nuts.
‘It is an idea born some years ago, when I found historical evidence that in Avola an exquisite rum had been produced for over two centuries, starting from the 1700s’ (Corrado Bellia. Ron Currau, nomen ipsum, for friends).
Sugarcane in Sicily, 1000 years of cultivation
The sugarcane was brought to Sicily by the Arabs in the 9th century AD and cultivated throughout the island until the 1600s, when it began to disappear for climatic and globalization reasons ante litteram. The Spanish had in fact started, meanwhile, huge plantations in Central and South America.
The cultivations By Saccharum officinarum continued only in Avola, on the estates of the Marquises Pignatelli d’Aragona Cortes. And it was precisely there – starting from sugarcane – that an agricultural rum was produced ‘excellent and expensive’, as reported by Gustavo Strafforello in ‘La Patria – Geografia dell’Italia’ (1893).
100% Sicilian agricultural rum, the rebirth
Corrado Bellia he relied on the collaboration of Leonardo Pinto – one of the leading experts in the field, as well as director of Show Rum (Italian Rum Festival) – to reactivate the production of an excellent rum in Avola, following the path of ancient tradition.
The work began following the indications of the botanist Giuseppe Bianca, who in 1878 described the role of the sugar cane (sugarcane) in a city, Avola, already famous for almonds and wine production.
‘Avola Rum', the 100% agricultural rum made in Sicily
After three years dedicated to cultivating sugar cane in suitable areas and experimenting with various distillates, the production of the first vintage of 100% Sicilian agricultural rum of the Third Millennium began in early spring 2021. Harvesting, pressing, fermentation and finally distillation, at the artisanal Distilleria Giovi.
'Avola Rum' is reborn thus, vibrant like its land, with an alcohol content of 52 degrees. Made with the agricultural method, 'it is a rum that has nothing to envy from those of the Caribbean or the Philippines, placing itself in the high-end range with limited annual production', explains Bellia.
Agricultural rum and industrial rum, what are the differences?
The differences between agricultural rum and industrial rum are significant, as they concern raw materials and processes:
- agricultural rum is produced by fermenting only the fresh juice obtained from the mechanical pressing and shredding of sugar cane. This production method, originated in the French Antilles (Martinique in particular), is still used in the Caribbean and Central America – as well as in Avola – to obtain more aromatic, fruity and fragrant distillates. With a distinct identity, which experts can distinguish by territory and vintage,
- industrial rum (or commercial) instead derives from the distillation of molasses, in turn extracted from sugar cane. The use of a semi-processed raw material with industrial processes, instead of the natural juice of the plant, drastically reduces the aromatic fractions characteristic of the plant and its terroir. And the subsequent ‘tricks’, in distillation and maturation, serve to standardize the flavor of each brand, in the different aging lines (and price).
Long live the eco-agricultural tradition of Sicily!
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the volume 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
