The choice between the two may seem confusing, but there is a distinct difference. While 'rum' encompasses various styles of the spirit, ranging from white to dark and spiced varieties, 'rhum' refers specifically to one style of rum. The term 'rhum' is actually short for 'rhum agricole,' which originated from French Caribbean islands like Martinique, Haiti, and the Guadeloupe island.
What Makes Rhum Different?
Most rums are produced by distilling fermented molasses, a sticky black treacle which is a by-product of the sugar refining process. Rhum is different. It is distilled from fermented, fresh-pressed juice from sugar cane grown specifically for this purpose.
The Origin of Rhum?
Until the early 1800s, France bought huge amounts of sugar from its Caribbean colonies, making local sugar producers very wealthy. When France found another, cheaper source of sugar – homegrown sugar beets – its reliance on Caribbean sugar dropped. With fields full of sugar cane but falling demand for sugar, plantation owners stopped refining sugar cane and started fermenting its juice instead.