From the Editor
November To Remember
Luis Ayala
Sugarcane harvest has started in the Southern USA and in many of the countries around the Equator. With the harvest also come the parades of trucks hauling the sweet grass from the fields to the mills. The year-end festivities are -like the trucks carrying the sugarcane-also starting to rev up their engines, filling the air with anticipation and the promise of holiday cheer and food.
Many of the aromas typically associated with winter drinks and desserts we love are, almost magically, being experienced on a daily basis by sugar mill workers and visitors, during the entire cane harvest or zafra. These aromas range in complexity from the simple sweet and grassy guarapo notes of the pressed cane juice to the Maillard reaction products of caramelization.
Every time I find these special aromas in a dish or in a drink, I am instantaneously transported to the sugar mills I’ve visited or where I’ve worked, so much so that I can almost hear the sound of the machines and the heat of the steam around me!I imagine the same is true about any “ingredient” used in the culinary world, all of them able to mentally transport people to the places where they were harvested or processed. As long as the ingredients are collected in a manner that allows them to retain the essence of their nature, they will all carry with them a “piece of home.” But the warmth and comfort of our homes is not reserved only for those who live in them, they are also the best gifts we can give to those who visit us from outside.
As famous author Gladys Taber once wrote:
“Some of the days in November carry the whole memory of summer as a fire opal carries the color of moonrise.”
So find a rum that carries with it the memory of the mill and of the barrel and share it with your friends and loved ones!
Cheers,
Luis Ayala,
Editor and Publisher
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rumconsultant