What cheese to eat with rum
When it comes to pairing with food, cheese is its own royal kingdom. It seems everything under the sun of grapes, grain, sugarcane and other fermented and/or distilled agriculture just loves to be devoured with cheese. As a snack or digestif, cheese fills its kingly role of providing delicious creamy and savory answers to the call of our hunger cravings at really any time of the day. So what cheese goes with rum?
The best cheese pairing with rum is really a muti-faceted challenge. Typically, cheese without any accoutrements is not ideal to pair with a neat pour of rum. Pulling from our snack pairing ideas, rum and cheese pairing is all about layers and that mildly addictive toasty crunch aspect. Upon that, let’s consider what to drink with cheese board options. The best types of cheese with rum should be accented with a hint of sweetness, like the condiments that often accompany boards including preserves, fruits and honey. Experiment with havarti, gouda, camembert, brie, goat cheese and blue options with varying elements like fruit and nut crisps, crostinis, dried fruit, preserves, honey, balsamic, etc. Here are a few combinations to try:
- On a buttered crostini, add a spread of soft creamy brie, a slice of apple and drizzle just a touch of raw honey over top. Take a bite and sip some Dos Maderas 5+3.
- Slit open a raw date and stuff with a creamy goat cheese and a dollop of berry jam. Taste it with a splash of Dos Maderas 5+5.
- Grab a dried fruit & nut crisp and combine with a dried apricot or preserve to a square of blue cheese. Drizzle just a touch of balsamic and try the entire bite with a pour of Dos Maderas 5+5.
If you are not a fan of neat rum pours, try tasting your cheese pairings with a sherry and rum cocktail like the Deconstruido.
What fruit to eat with rum
Enjoying rum and fruit together is as natural as craving lemonade on a sunny porch in the summer. The affinity that rum shares for fruit is evident throughout most rum cocktails in the islands, the states and all over the world. The key is deciding on what fruit goes with rum on any particular day depending where you are, what the season brings and where your cravings guide you.
Pairing fresh fruit with rum is something mixologist-bartenders do all the time, whether it’s citrus, berries, tree fruit, stone fruit or tropical fruit, rum finds a way to taste delicious in the final combination. Determining the best fruit with rum is certainly a matter of time, place and personal taste. Sometimes adding one or more items is the ticket. Mixed fruit with rum has been the number one seller at TGI Friday’s and Applebee’s and other chain restaurants with frosty blenders for decades. We’ve been trained since childhood before even tasting rum to think strawberry-banana daiquiris & piña coladas are delicious. Even outside of the blender-verse, fruit juice with rum is as old as the colonies and earlier with recipes like the Stone Fence combining 5 oz. fresh pressed apple cider, 2 oz. rum and a dash of Angostura bitters in simple perfection.
Conclusion? The world offers us seemingly infinite possibilities when it comes to enjoying rum with fruit. Here are a few easy suggestions to get you experimenting that you may not have tried before:
- Grill a ring of fresh ripe pineapple and add a pinch of salt. Serve it with a side of neat Dos Maderas 5+3.
- Microwave a ripe peeled banana with 2 tablespoons of water drizzled on top for 1 minute. The natural fruit sugars will mix with the water into a simple sauce. Sprinkle a bit of grated nutmeg on top. Enjoy a spoonful of the warm banana with a side of neat Dos Maderas 5+5.
- Grab your favorite mixed berry & melon fruit cup and a serving of Greek yogurt. Blend together with ¾ cup of honey, 1 cup of crushed ice and 2 oz. of Dos Maderas 5+3. Serve with a straw. Optional: add a few leaves of mint to the blender.
Stay tuned for PART THREE: DESSERT & CHOCOLATE…