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.