So before I get a whole load of moaning emails I want to clear a few things up. Firstly, I know this is not Rum. I know what Rum is. Rum is made from fermented sugar cane… and this is made from a marrow. A marrow fermented in a sock. Let’s not get too hung up the nomenclature.
Mind you, any one that insists on calling a marrow a zucchini needs a good hiding, and as I’m from the North East I should be calling it a marra’.
Marrows are the world’s worst vegetable. A bloated courgette that is good for nothing except making rum apparently. The initial idea came from some notes that funny uncle Michael gave to me from his mid-70s wine making that I have somehow inherited. There has been a revolution in kit, ingredients and ideas in amateur wine making so most have some rather out dated methods, they are a pleasure to read and there are one or two great ideas and inspirations there. Making “Northumbrian Rum” seemed like a particularly bad idea so it really appealed and there are various other methods I have seen since.
The basic idea is to deseed a marrow, pack it with sugar and wine yeast, reseal and then leave to ferment. Light or dark sugar is used in differing recipes and some add raisins either during or after the marrow fermentation. This is a real prison hooch operation so organisation is rather haphazard so I doubt there is a true “marrow rum pot” to make this in an elegant fashion. With the prison hooch stylings there is a totally illegal (both in Britain and Hamburgerland) method of ice distillation that can increase the ABV by freezing the finished rum and letting the more alcoholic mixture melt and be saved with the water being discarded. If they are reading I would just like to tell MI5 and GCHQ that I have not done this.
RUM NORTHUMBRIANA
1 large marrow
1ish kg of demerara sugar
1 orange
Yeast
Nutrient
Wash you marrow (ooh-er!) chop of the top and scoop out the seeds.
Fill your cavity (ooh-er!) with demerara sugar, give it a tap and then top it up if space is created.
Juice an orange and pout in the juice. Give it a tap and top up the sugar again.
Pour in your yeast – make a starter as the packet describes or if no instructions dissolve in water and pour over the sugar.
Place the top on the marrow and tape it shut getting a tight seal.
Pierce the skin of the marrow at the base but do not go through the flesh then wrap in cling film.
Place it in a container –the more air tight the better so it can drip into a demijohn.
Wait for it to ferment, drip out.
After a week to three months depending on the integrity of the devil’s vegetable squeeze the now desiccated marrow skin to get all the juice out and leave to ferment fully.
You can now bottle and leave for a year to mature or…
Gather the juice and add more sugar and a high strength yeast. Ferment to the highest alcohol tolerance it can go to – possibly 20% ABV.
THE NOVOCASTRIAN VINTNERS GAZETTE 
Please do update with how this tastes. It’s rather creepy!
LikeLike
I certainly will.
LikeLike
You are the keeper of the McNally Wine Recipes……..funny uncle Michael.
Looking forward to sampling your brew shortly.
LikeLike
So how did that taste?
LikeLike
Never got to drink it. It was placed away from my other wines and I totally forgot about it with the airlock evaporating and oxidation occurring!
LikeLike
It would be an awful lot easier to just chop up the marrow, leave it for a bit in a bucket with some water n other stuff then strain and ferment in a demijohn. Just coz you can do the above doesn’t mean you should. See first steps in wine making by c j j Berry…
LikeLike
The post was a bit of fun, I’m not a scientist cloning dinasaurs so have not really considered the moral angle Marrow Rum. I’m not sold on the idea it would be the same flavour – if that flavour is better or worse is another matter and as either of us has made both to compare then its all moot. Thanks for the recommendation… but I already own the excellent book by CJJ Berry.
LikeLike
1) The original recipe doesn’t mention adding yeast, instead relying on “natural fermentation”.
2) Why does it say “Dick Barton” at the bottom? 🙂
LikeLike
Natural fermentations, are risky but it could, be fun. I modified as, we have commercial yeast at our finger tips now. Dick Barton would, have run the course that the notes came from.
LikeLike
Fair enough, but in that case wouldn’t it be more reliable to make the marrow rum using a more common fruit wine method, by creating the must in a fermentation bin?
(and okay, so not Dick Barton, Special Agent 🙂
LikeLike
He might have moon lighted as a wine maker when he was undercover. My uncle did not report any of his team though.
The method here gives a very long fermentation and also means that the flesh of the fruit really ferments out and gives a lot of flavour. Ig also sits in the holding container so probably oxidises. I doubt that a trad method would do the same. Its not that this is any better or worse just that it was in the notes and it was a crazy experiment.
LikeLike
My mother has a similar recipe in the back of the hand written cook book that she left me (she was a Somerset girl so this isn’t just a north-of-watford recipe). I think she may have tried it but it wasn’t a success, very few of her wines were. I think I’d follow Berry’s advice if I was making Marrow wine and do it properly.
LikeLike
I am going to try this!
LikeLike
I would follow Tim’s advice above if I were you. This method is awfully messy.
LikeLike
Where’s the fun in that!?
LikeLike
True, depends whether you want entertainment or a reliable way of making the drink :).
I ended up using a big pan for the stuff I made last year after the marrow collapsed in a sticky mess, I’m looking forward to drinking it soon.
LikeLike
I made this a couple of times, no cling film just a sock. It takes a year but is totally worth it, even has a kick like rum
LikeLike