December 31, 2025 • 28 mins
This spiced syrup might be made with lime zest, cloves, almonds, and rum – or none of the above. Anney and Lauren dip into the history and cultures behind falernum.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm any
Reo and I'm Lorn.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Vocal Bomb, and today we have an episode for you
about fulurnum.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Fun word, fun all around.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great word.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Was there any particular reason this was on your line?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Lauren? Uh? Yes, so I was. So we have we
have a number of like Christmas themed cocktail bars around Atlanta.
One of them, which we just had our holiday party at,
is one of the Miracle pop ups. But also a
(00:49):
local restaurant called so Os Tiki Bar has this annual
holiday ish overhaul and I was browsing through their menu
and I was like, fulurnum, we haven't done an episode
about that? What's up with that? So here we are.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Here we are. And as when you suggested this topic,
I said, you know, I know, I've had it. I've
seen it on menus. I couldn't tell you anything else
about it the extent of my knowledge other than it
sounds like a really fun cursord.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah oo oh no, okay, all right, Uh yeah, I
do have some experience with this one, partially because of
my aforementioned dear friend Darryl, who was a bartender who
introduced me to a lot of stuff, including Yeah, fulurnum.
I personally, it's a thing that I like in extremely
(01:46):
small amounts. I'll get a little bit into that a
little later on, but for now, Okay. Past episodes you
can see our ones about other liqueurs, especially the Caribbean
crousow maybe or jotte as well cocktail episodes like my
(02:06):
tie for some like Teaki culture history, then the DACKERI
and maybe Pina Colada for some like rum cocktail history.
Speaking of rum our liquor episodes perhaps especially rum agricole
for more about sugarcane.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Mmmm hmmmm, well, I guess that does bring us to
our question. No, Yeah, flernum, what is it?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, Flurnum is a type of sweet flavored syrup or
liqueur that's used in cocktails and other drinks. The flavorings
in question here can vary, but typically involve lime, zest,
and cloves, plus often almond and other spices like ginger, allspice, nutmeg,
and or cinnamon, all in a base of liquid sugar
(02:58):
and rum, though for an non alcoholic syrup, rum type
flavorings would be used instead. Yeah. The result can be
varyingly sweet and anywhere from zero proof to like basically
flavored rum, and people do get creative with the ingredients,
but the concept is like warm and round and smooth
(03:19):
and sweet with like little tingles of interest. Yeah. It's
generally clear ish in color with a golden or greenish twinge,
but can be a deeper gold to like tawny. The
liquor might be consumed alone or over ice or with
soda water, but more often a flurnum is used in
(03:40):
small amounts in like tropical themed or teaky cocktails for
a sort of like sunbathed jenasequa. Yeah, it is a
traditional ingredient in the zombie cocktail, for example, because of
the sugar content. It adds a little bit of body
to cocktails like simple syrup does flurnum. It's like drinking
(04:02):
the smell of spiced cookies that are just about ready
to come out of the oven.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Ooh yeah, yeah, yeah, I could feel that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
People do seem to enjoy arguing about what is traditional
in terms of flavorings in fulurnum. My list of spices
above goes basically in order of how often I've seen
people insist an ingredient is necessary for a true fulurnum.
But some people would say all spice instead of clothes.
(04:37):
Some people would absolutely put almond in there. Some people
would say bitter almond instead of sweet almond. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure that history is sure. We'll get into
that later, yes, we will. At any rate. There are
plenty of brands out there if you're looking to buy some,
the one that you will probably see most often is
velvet fulurnum, which is a liquor that's about a eleven
(05:00):
percent alcohol. But yeah, you can browse your locorus section
and or like the bitters and mixers section to just
see what's available. You can also make fulernum at home,
especially if you want to get specific about the flavor balance.
If you're not using rum, a little bit of like
vanilla and brown sugar or molasses will help replicate that flavor,
(05:21):
or maybe you want to add more of that. I
don't know, that's up to you. If you are using rum,
I do think white rum is the traditional base, but
nothing's stopping you from using an aged rum, And it
all really depends on what you're going for. You know,
I've seen recipes include lime juice for more of a
citrus kick, or angostura bitters for more spice. Different producers
(05:42):
have listed things like sweet or bitter orange, peel, orange juice, cardamom,
star anis, cownibs, pineapple, all kinds of things. To me,
the flavor of velvet fulernum specifically often reads a little
bit like bubblegum, which I guess actually makes sense because
(06:02):
bubble gum is usually a mix of fruity flavors like banana, strawberry,
maybe some pineapple, apple, pear cherry type stuff in there,
with some citrus and like cloved cinnamon spice flavors, and
then a tiny spico winter green. And so the citrus
plus clove might be what I'm picking up on in
the fulurnum versus bubblegum. Kind of kind of universe crossover. Yeah, anyway, Yeah,
(06:29):
I've seen all kinds of recipes that incorporate it. Uh,
swizzles and sangrias and spritzes, hot coffees and iced teas.
Maybe in a sauce for topping fruit or ice cream
or some other dessert like that. Maybe put some in
your holiday eggnog.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Ooh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, a little bit less sugar, a little bit of
flurinum in there. Sure. The aforementioned zombie cocktail is a
mix of RUMs and a mix of juices, often like pineapple, lime,
and pink grapefruit, something along those lines, then sweetened with
fulurnum and a bit grenadine and given a wee bitter
kick with a few dashes of absinthe then served over
ice are blended. A really really classic cocktail. There's another
(07:08):
classic that I don't have experience with, I don't think,
called a corn and oil and this one is on
the back of the packaging a velvet for lurnum, or
has been at any rate. That's a four parts like
mid aged rum to one part for lurnum with some bitters,
just stirred and strained over ice with maybe like a
float of dark rum or black strap to provide a
(07:30):
little layered effect, and then garnished with the lime. Sounds
like a lovely booze forward kind of drink, like if
you're into a Manhattan This might be an alternative to
look into. Another classic with fulurnum is called a Royal
Bermuda yacht Club, which is basically a corn and oil
made more into a punch with lime, juice and orange
(07:52):
currousl added. Sounds delightful but yeah, other stuff a jet pilot,
three dots in a dash, a saturn which is a
gin drink not made with rum.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What yeah, yeah, well oh what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Oh, both sugar and alcohol are treats, and treats are nice. Also,
drink responsibly. We forgot to say that earlier.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yes, yes, yes, well no numbers.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
For no zero sorry, yeah, that's that's our number of numbers.
It is zero.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Your number of the episode is zero. Yes, but we've
got a really interesting history for you.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh yeah, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break. For a word from our sponsors, co We're back,
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Okay. So most historians place the beginnings of full to
Barbados sugar distilleries in the seventeen hundreds, and a lot
of these distilleries had their own recipes for it, but
it was essentially a mixture of rum, lime, juice, and sugar.
Also of note, there is some historical confusion around the
(09:16):
name fulurnum. During the time of ancient Rome, this referred
to a type of red wine and after that, but
starting then, so it can be tricky to know for sure.
What people are referring to if there isn't enough context
when they say fulernum.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Also both you know, here in Barbados and around the
rest of the Caribbean. Historically, it seems like sometimes people
were using the word fullernum to refer to a cocktail
like a fresh made punch of rum, lime and sugar.
And I have read that fullernum is in fact slaying
(09:52):
for punch around Barbados specifically, in other cases historically it
seems to refer to a more syrupy or alcoholic coction
meant to be used as an ingredient in other drinks.
So so fun.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
As always, why didn't they think about us poor podcasters,
just trying to report the truth. Oh and speaking of
with these episodes, they are always these handful of stories
about people claiming to be the original, the original inventors.
But as usual, it's likely that a bunch of folks
(10:29):
were making this and had their own recipes, and not
just distilleries but individual households too. However, let us look
at some of the big claims. One is from Henry Parkinson.
As the story goes, Parkinson mixed together rum, brown sugar, crush, limes, almonds,
crushed ginger and clove powder sometime around seventeen fifty, which
(10:52):
is great great grandson brought over to the US in
nineteen thirty four. There's some doubt about this story, though,
because not all of those ingredients were available in Barbados
at the time. It is possible that their recipe changed
over that time period or that the ingredients were imported,
but most people seem to think it's unlikely that that
(11:14):
was the case.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, it's tricky to say when exactly everything was in
Barbados versus being made in Barbados and or were produced
in Barbados, and because I mean, do you really make
a clove or is it the plant that makes the
clove anyway? Yeah, yeah, but by around like the early
eighteen hundreds, dish, I think seventeen fifty is a little
(11:36):
bit too early, but like early to mid to late
eighteen hundreds perhaps.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah. This was another episode where I was like, well,
I could talk about the history of each of these
ingredients in Barbados, but then it'll never be done. Yeah,
but yeah, people have looked into it. Yeah, the consensus
seems to be essentially that, Yeah, probably not by then.
Another claim comes from John D. Taylor, who who claimed
(12:08):
to have invented it in eighteen ninety and commercialized it
with his product velvet Fulurnum. However, evidence doesn't back this
up either.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
In terms of him being like the inventor of it right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yes, absolutely. The first known record of a rum based
drink called flurnum popped up in Barbados in eighteen sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
This was an English traveler's account, and he described a
punch of rum, lime juice and syrup being consumed at
harvest celebrations on the island.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Fulurnum was featured at the eighteen eighty six Colonial and
Indian Expedition in London, and this version of flurnum included
cinnamon cloves, allspice and nutmeg, along with ginger, lime and almonds.
About five point five million people attended YEP In eighteen
ninety two. Carlels Dickens Junior mentioned flurnum in his book
(13:02):
All the Year Round.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
He said that this was a combination of rum and
lime juice and said that it would be mixed into
cocktails with either extract of wormwood, by which he might
have meant absentthe or ngostora betters, and then served frothed
over ice.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And then an eighteen ninety six article out of the
Philadelphia Inquirer described flurnum as something like an apartief, like
to be enjoyed about an hour before dinner.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And this was referring more specifically to a bottled drink
made of rum, lemon and lime, juice, sugar syrup, and
water soaked with better almonds for a week and then
served over ice with either wormwood or betters Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And that same year a publication out of Salt Lake
City called the drink delightful and described it almost as
a health item.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The author lamented the difficulty of getting quote genuine rum
to make it in the United States. And both of
these articles called flurnum that it was something from the
West Indies. That's where they both said it was from.
It makes sense that both of these articles came out
the same year when Barbados, Tobago, and Jamaica began commercially
(14:18):
producing and exporting flurinum are Perhaps they started doing this
in eighteen eighty six, but production was fully underway by
that point. This is where we get some argument about
whether or not flurinum actually originated in Barbados. But the
consensus still seems to be probably yes, but argument abounds.
(14:38):
And of note, all of the traditional ingredients of flurinum
were available in Barbados by this time.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yes. This is also when almuds were first mentioned, indicating
that the recipe changed as more ingredients became available. But
I don't know. A lot of this is gucks, some
kind of like looking back historical distortion, I think, where
people put things in that weren't there originally. But anyway,
(15:08):
later in nineteen eleven, missus H. Graham Yearwood's book West
Indies and Other Recipes allegedly had a recipe for fulurnum.
I couldn't find the original, so I can't say for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
But yeah, yeah, Difford's guide said that it existed. Sometimes
it's difficult to track down original sources.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Indeed, whatever the case, flurinum achieved popularity in the US
in the nineteen thirties. There are a couple of articles
at this time ascribing the growing popularity to the rise
of tea culture and drinks in the US, which we
have talked about before. This is when drinks like the
Mytai were created and popularized.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, and tiki culture continued through the forties and into
the fifties, after which the trend started kind of losing steam.
But Yeah, flurnum was definitely included in Trader Vic's Bar
Guide in nineteen forty six. Also, at some point, possibly
around this time, the Sasaac Company out of New Orleans,
which we have spoken about before, started producing their own
(16:09):
bottled for lernum.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
By the nineteen seventies, though tiki drinks, many of which
did use lernum, were on the decline.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, falernum basically disappeared from shelves outside of places that.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Were making it, and that's kind of how it was
for a while. That changed though, with the recent revival
in craft cocktails and specifically craft TIHI cocktails in the US,
and so flurnum has made a bit of a comeback here.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah. By like the nineteen nineties, a number of curious
bartenders were trying to track some fulurnum down, having read
about it in these classic recipes, but never encountered it themselves.
The company that currently owns John D. Taylor's Velvet Fulernum,
which is RL Seal and Company, had been making their
own in Barbados the nineteen twenties, but acquired that velvet
(17:03):
for Lernum recipe in nineteen ninety three and started doing
that version. They actually tried exporting it to the US
as early as the year two thousand, but didn't find
success until they paired with the right distributor in like
two thousand and nine or so. There's this wild account
in Punch magazine, which is a great magazine, with all
(17:25):
of these like major craft cocktail dudes like Dale de
Groff and like Jeff Barry talking about how they were
clamoring for this product and like perhaps obviously Sealing Company
wanted to get it to them, but there was just
this industry block where for some reason, like the distributors
were like, you really want a bottle of that? Now
(17:47):
you don't, No, it's here whatever. Yeah. At any rate,
also around the early two thousands, other companies like Fee Brothers,
having been contacted by some of these craft cocktail guys,
started making their own versions. And yeah, I've read I've
(18:08):
read about it being about fu learning being difficult to
find even continuing into now ish, but I've been seeing
it pretty consistently for at least ten years now, So
I don't know. It depends on of course, like Atlanta
is a major metropolitan city, and we're lucky to have
a number of terrific craft cocktail bars and also liquor
(18:32):
stores with really good selections of weird stuff. So I
don't know. Yeah, yeah, your myolage may vary.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah yeah, I don't think I've ever looked for it before,
but I will now. And I would love to hear
from listeners if you have your favorite brands or uses.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, if there's a cocktail that you that
you really like putting it in that I didn't mention,
if there's a non alcoholic dish or cocktail that you
like putting it in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yes, please let us know. But I think that's what
we have to say about Fulurnum for now.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think it is. We do already have some listener
mail for you, though, and we're going to get into
that as soon as we get back from one more
quick break forward from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with
a listener fire wucks New Years.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Oh. Speaking of our old pal Ruth, he sends in
these wonderful savor song parodies, sent us another one. Once again.
I will not be singing it especially because it goes
in reverse order.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Oh yeah, I you know you could reverse it if
you wanted. Okay, all right, my bad.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Trying to get me to sing on here.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No, I wasn't trying to get you into sing I
was saying that you could put it in.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I could. This is a thing I could too.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Okay, all right, whatever you want. Whatever. Hey, this is
your listener mail. You gave it to yourself. I want
you to do it however you want.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Thank you, Lauren. All right. So this is the twelve
Days of Savor from Ruth. On the first day of Christmas,
I set before the king a partrig cooked with poached pears.
The second day of Christmas. Two baked doves the third
day of Christmas, three spatchcock hens the fourth day of Christmas,
(20:53):
four peppered birds the fifth day of Christmas, five scotch
haggis the sixth day of Christmas, six goose egg kish
on the seventh day of Christmas, seven swans and noblet,
which Ruth has an asterisk to denote. This means they
were skinned and cooked and then brought to the table
(21:13):
with their skins and feathers placed back on and the
next stuff to look real on the eighth day of Christmas.
Eight milk puddings on the ninth day of Christmas. Nine
madelines on the tenth day of Christmas, tin hairs on
cruts on the eleventh day of Christmas. Eleven soup bowls
bubbling on the twelfth day of Christmas. Twelve pies with eels.
(21:39):
Thank you, Thank you as always for sending us these gems.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh what a great feast. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Also,
I don't think I've ever had partridge, but I want
some cooked with poached pears now. Yeah, I want all
of these things.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think that would be really good.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
This would be a really big singular feast. But certainly
I would I would make a I would give it
the old college try, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I feel like, also, I want everybody to give Ruth
credit for all of the not necessarily puns, but the
way this relates to the actual song, Oh yeah, like
maids of Milk, Like just just sit and absorb, yeah,
(22:33):
and really let it.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Also, I do we haven't done any we haven't done
any Eel episodes yet, and bless I'm gonna see if
we can get the surprised eel Astorian to come to
come talk with us. I don't know, we'll figure it out.
We'll see what we can do. Yeah, Angelique wrote huge
(23:02):
fan of the podcast and have been listening since the
early days of food Stuff. It's taken me a while
to finally write in, but had to once you released
the dungeness crab episode. My mom's side of the family
is originally from Burma, and our Christmas Eve dinner protein
of choice would always be curry crab, featuring the deliciously
sweet and local dungeness crab. As we all lived in
(23:22):
the Bay Area, the season for this protein would start
right around the holidays. I can recall going with my
dad and cousin to the fishing docks of Half Moon
Bay to pick up freshly caught dungeness crab with load
up several coolers full of these guys. It was an experience,
and of course, once the crabs got to my grandmother's house,
wow did the magic of curry crab happen. My cousins
(23:44):
and I would often have a competition to see who
could eat the most. Everyone's hands would smell like curry
for days, but it was always worth it. It's been
a few years since we all last had curry crab.
Since several family members have passed and my grandma's house
has since been sold. Thank you for staring up fond
and delicious memories from childhood. Attached is a pet tax
(24:04):
photo of my family's late pup, Tommy and his first
encounter with a live dungeness crab circa twenty eleven. A
dog not harmed during or after photo. Secondly, I wanted
to touch base on your sardine episode. Canned sardines have
always been a protein choice for my family's backpacking adventures.
We'd pick up a few cans from the local Asian
(24:25):
supermarket and a sleeve or two of crackers. When would
be a few miles into our hike, would stop on
the side of the trail and open up the sardines
paired with crackers. While would they hit the spot, especially
after a particularly grueling hiking session. It's been wild to
see the popularity of can sardine's skyrocket, since it's always
been a cheap and sometimes gross slush weird to some
(24:47):
people protein. Our favorite brand is Nuri, a Portuguese brand,
and my personal favorite is the Nuri spiced sardines in
olive oil. I'll try to send you some.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And attached, uh.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Attached is a photo of a very dubious dog. Uh.
This dog is white and fuzzy, like a little teddy bear.
I always forget what this breed of dog is called.
With like like the silky you know, like the silky
looking puppers with like yeah, the the kind of good
(25:27):
floppy ears very uh, very I wish you would uh
at the crab which is in the foreground, apparently moving
towards the dog in the background.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's quite a large crab as well.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
It's quite a large crab. And yeah, Tommy does not
look like he is having any of this. And the
crab might just want to be friends, or or it
might be.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You know, preparing an attack.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, like saying like, hey, nice kitchen you have here.
It would be a shame if something happened to it,
you know kind of thing. I don't know why. The
crab is a monster. It's a mobster mobster, sorry.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
A mobster monster.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's an excellent photo. It communicates a lot. It does
very very good, very good.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Tommy is standing his ground and I appreciate that about him.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, Tommy's like try it, try it. Oh, I also
love curry crab. Sounds so good.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That is oddly a preparation of crab I have never had,
and now I'm real mad about it.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Me as well, Me as well. I was chatting to
some ladies at the grocery store today and we were
all talking about what we make over Christmas, and I
was just so endeared by the very wildly different things
that people were making. But I have never heard of
(27:08):
curry crab, But that sounds like a delicious holiday special meal.
That sounds wonderful to me.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah. Oh and good fresh crab m mmm mmmmmm.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And yeah, sardines really have had a bit of a
glow up.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah. I love all of the like slightly pretentious restaurants
around town that now have a selection of canned fish.
They're just like us.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
That is a thing. Yeah, you're right, you're right. But yeah,
thank you, Thank you both to both of these listeners
you're writing in. Uh. If you would like to write
into us, listeners, we would love to hear from you.
Our email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and blue Sky at savor pod, and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts myheart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(28:15):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio. I'm any
Reo and I'm Lorn.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Vocal Bomb, and today we have an episode for you
about fulurnum.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Fun word, fun all around.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's a great word.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Was there any particular reason this was on your line?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Lauren? Uh? Yes, so I was. So we have we
have a number of like Christmas themed cocktail bars around Atlanta.
One of them, which we just had our holiday party at,
is one of the Miracle pop ups. But also a
(00:49):
local restaurant called so Os Tiki Bar has this annual
holiday ish overhaul and I was browsing through their menu
and I was like, fulurnum, we haven't done an episode
about that? What's up with that? So here we are.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Here we are. And as when you suggested this topic,
I said, you know, I know, I've had it. I've
seen it on menus. I couldn't tell you anything else
about it the extent of my knowledge other than it
sounds like a really fun cursord.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah oo oh no, okay, all right, Uh yeah, I
do have some experience with this one, partially because of
my aforementioned dear friend Darryl, who was a bartender who
introduced me to a lot of stuff, including Yeah, fulurnum.
I personally, it's a thing that I like in extremely
(01:46):
small amounts. I'll get a little bit into that a
little later on, but for now, Okay. Past episodes you
can see our ones about other liqueurs, especially the Caribbean
crousow maybe or jotte as well cocktail episodes like my
(02:06):
tie for some like Teaki culture history, then the DACKERI
and maybe Pina Colada for some like rum cocktail history.
Speaking of rum our liquor episodes perhaps especially rum agricole
for more about sugarcane.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Mmmm hmmmm, well, I guess that does bring us to
our question. No, Yeah, flernum, what is it?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, Flurnum is a type of sweet flavored syrup or
liqueur that's used in cocktails and other drinks. The flavorings
in question here can vary, but typically involve lime, zest,
and cloves, plus often almond and other spices like ginger, allspice, nutmeg,
and or cinnamon, all in a base of liquid sugar
(02:58):
and rum, though for an non alcoholic syrup, rum type
flavorings would be used instead. Yeah. The result can be
varyingly sweet and anywhere from zero proof to like basically
flavored rum, and people do get creative with the ingredients,
but the concept is like warm and round and smooth
(03:19):
and sweet with like little tingles of interest. Yeah. It's
generally clear ish in color with a golden or greenish twinge,
but can be a deeper gold to like tawny. The
liquor might be consumed alone or over ice or with
soda water, but more often a flurnum is used in
(03:40):
small amounts in like tropical themed or teaky cocktails for
a sort of like sunbathed jenasequa. Yeah, it is a
traditional ingredient in the zombie cocktail, for example, because of
the sugar content. It adds a little bit of body
to cocktails like simple syrup does flurnum. It's like drinking
(04:02):
the smell of spiced cookies that are just about ready
to come out of the oven.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Ooh yeah, yeah, yeah, I could feel that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
People do seem to enjoy arguing about what is traditional
in terms of flavorings in fulurnum. My list of spices
above goes basically in order of how often I've seen
people insist an ingredient is necessary for a true fulurnum.
But some people would say all spice instead of clothes.
(04:37):
Some people would absolutely put almond in there. Some people
would say bitter almond instead of sweet almond. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure that history is sure. We'll get into
that later, yes, we will. At any rate. There are
plenty of brands out there if you're looking to buy some,
the one that you will probably see most often is
velvet fulurnum, which is a liquor that's about a eleven
(05:00):
percent alcohol. But yeah, you can browse your locorus section
and or like the bitters and mixers section to just
see what's available. You can also make fulernum at home,
especially if you want to get specific about the flavor balance.
If you're not using rum, a little bit of like
vanilla and brown sugar or molasses will help replicate that flavor,
(05:21):
or maybe you want to add more of that. I
don't know, that's up to you. If you are using rum,
I do think white rum is the traditional base, but
nothing's stopping you from using an aged rum, And it
all really depends on what you're going for. You know,
I've seen recipes include lime juice for more of a
citrus kick, or angostura bitters for more spice. Different producers
(05:42):
have listed things like sweet or bitter orange, peel, orange juice, cardamom,
star anis, cownibs, pineapple, all kinds of things. To me,
the flavor of velvet fulernum specifically often reads a little
bit like bubblegum, which I guess actually makes sense because
(06:02):
bubble gum is usually a mix of fruity flavors like banana, strawberry,
maybe some pineapple, apple, pear cherry type stuff in there,
with some citrus and like cloved cinnamon spice flavors, and
then a tiny spico winter green. And so the citrus
plus clove might be what I'm picking up on in
the fulurnum versus bubblegum. Kind of kind of universe crossover. Yeah, anyway, Yeah,
(06:29):
I've seen all kinds of recipes that incorporate it. Uh,
swizzles and sangrias and spritzes, hot coffees and iced teas.
Maybe in a sauce for topping fruit or ice cream
or some other dessert like that. Maybe put some in
your holiday eggnog.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Ooh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, a little bit less sugar, a little bit of
flurinum in there. Sure. The aforementioned zombie cocktail is a
mix of RUMs and a mix of juices, often like pineapple, lime,
and pink grapefruit, something along those lines, then sweetened with
fulurnum and a bit grenadine and given a wee bitter
kick with a few dashes of absinthe then served over
ice are blended. A really really classic cocktail. There's another
(07:08):
classic that I don't have experience with, I don't think,
called a corn and oil and this one is on
the back of the packaging a velvet for lurnum, or
has been at any rate. That's a four parts like
mid aged rum to one part for lurnum with some bitters,
just stirred and strained over ice with maybe like a
float of dark rum or black strap to provide a
(07:30):
little layered effect, and then garnished with the lime. Sounds
like a lovely booze forward kind of drink, like if
you're into a Manhattan This might be an alternative to
look into. Another classic with fulurnum is called a Royal
Bermuda yacht Club, which is basically a corn and oil
made more into a punch with lime, juice and orange
(07:52):
currousl added. Sounds delightful but yeah, other stuff a jet pilot,
three dots in a dash, a saturn which is a
gin drink not made with rum.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What yeah, yeah, well oh what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Oh, both sugar and alcohol are treats, and treats are nice. Also,
drink responsibly. We forgot to say that earlier.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yes, yes, yes, well no numbers.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
For no zero sorry, yeah, that's that's our number of numbers.
It is zero.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Your number of the episode is zero. Yes, but we've
got a really interesting history for you.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Oh yeah, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break. For a word from our sponsors, co We're back,
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Okay. So most historians place the beginnings of full to
Barbados sugar distilleries in the seventeen hundreds, and a lot
of these distilleries had their own recipes for it, but
it was essentially a mixture of rum, lime, juice, and sugar.
Also of note, there is some historical confusion around the
(09:16):
name fulurnum. During the time of ancient Rome, this referred
to a type of red wine and after that, but
starting then, so it can be tricky to know for sure.
What people are referring to if there isn't enough context
when they say fulernum.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Also both you know, here in Barbados and around the
rest of the Caribbean. Historically, it seems like sometimes people
were using the word fullernum to refer to a cocktail
like a fresh made punch of rum, lime and sugar.
And I have read that fullernum is in fact slaying
(09:52):
for punch around Barbados specifically, in other cases historically it
seems to refer to a more syrupy or alcoholic coction
meant to be used as an ingredient in other drinks.
So so fun.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
As always, why didn't they think about us poor podcasters,
just trying to report the truth. Oh and speaking of
with these episodes, they are always these handful of stories
about people claiming to be the original, the original inventors.
But as usual, it's likely that a bunch of folks
(10:29):
were making this and had their own recipes, and not
just distilleries but individual households too. However, let us look
at some of the big claims. One is from Henry Parkinson.
As the story goes, Parkinson mixed together rum, brown sugar, crush, limes, almonds,
crushed ginger and clove powder sometime around seventeen fifty, which
(10:52):
is great great grandson brought over to the US in
nineteen thirty four. There's some doubt about this story, though,
because not all of those ingredients were available in Barbados
at the time. It is possible that their recipe changed
over that time period or that the ingredients were imported,
but most people seem to think it's unlikely that that
(11:14):
was the case.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, it's tricky to say when exactly everything was in
Barbados versus being made in Barbados and or were produced
in Barbados, and because I mean, do you really make
a clove or is it the plant that makes the
clove anyway? Yeah, yeah, but by around like the early
eighteen hundreds, dish, I think seventeen fifty is a little
(11:36):
bit too early, but like early to mid to late
eighteen hundreds perhaps.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah. This was another episode where I was like, well,
I could talk about the history of each of these
ingredients in Barbados, but then it'll never be done. Yeah,
but yeah, people have looked into it. Yeah, the consensus
seems to be essentially that, Yeah, probably not by then.
Another claim comes from John D. Taylor, who who claimed
(12:08):
to have invented it in eighteen ninety and commercialized it
with his product velvet Fulurnum. However, evidence doesn't back this
up either.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
In terms of him being like the inventor of it right.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yes, absolutely. The first known record of a rum based
drink called flurnum popped up in Barbados in eighteen sixty nine.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
This was an English traveler's account, and he described a
punch of rum, lime juice and syrup being consumed at
harvest celebrations on the island.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Fulurnum was featured at the eighteen eighty six Colonial and
Indian Expedition in London, and this version of flurnum included
cinnamon cloves, allspice and nutmeg, along with ginger, lime and almonds.
About five point five million people attended YEP In eighteen
ninety two. Carlels Dickens Junior mentioned flurnum in his book
(13:02):
All the Year Round.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
He said that this was a combination of rum and
lime juice and said that it would be mixed into
cocktails with either extract of wormwood, by which he might
have meant absentthe or ngostora betters, and then served frothed
over ice.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And then an eighteen ninety six article out of the
Philadelphia Inquirer described flurnum as something like an apartief, like
to be enjoyed about an hour before dinner.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
And this was referring more specifically to a bottled drink
made of rum, lemon and lime, juice, sugar syrup, and
water soaked with better almonds for a week and then
served over ice with either wormwood or betters Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
And that same year a publication out of Salt Lake
City called the drink delightful and described it almost as
a health item.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The author lamented the difficulty of getting quote genuine rum
to make it in the United States. And both of
these articles called flurnum that it was something from the
West Indies. That's where they both said it was from.
It makes sense that both of these articles came out
the same year when Barbados, Tobago, and Jamaica began commercially
(14:18):
producing and exporting flurinum are Perhaps they started doing this
in eighteen eighty six, but production was fully underway by
that point. This is where we get some argument about
whether or not flurinum actually originated in Barbados. But the
consensus still seems to be probably yes, but argument abounds.
(14:38):
And of note, all of the traditional ingredients of flurinum
were available in Barbados by this time.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yes. This is also when almuds were first mentioned, indicating
that the recipe changed as more ingredients became available. But
I don't know. A lot of this is gucks, some
kind of like looking back historical distortion, I think, where
people put things in that weren't there originally. But anyway,
(15:08):
later in nineteen eleven, missus H. Graham Yearwood's book West
Indies and Other Recipes allegedly had a recipe for fulurnum.
I couldn't find the original, so I can't say for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
But yeah, yeah, Difford's guide said that it existed. Sometimes
it's difficult to track down original sources.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Indeed, whatever the case, flurinum achieved popularity in the US
in the nineteen thirties. There are a couple of articles
at this time ascribing the growing popularity to the rise
of tea culture and drinks in the US, which we
have talked about before. This is when drinks like the
Mytai were created and popularized.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, and tiki culture continued through the forties and into
the fifties, after which the trend started kind of losing steam.
But Yeah, flurnum was definitely included in Trader Vic's Bar
Guide in nineteen forty six. Also, at some point, possibly
around this time, the Sasaac Company out of New Orleans,
which we have spoken about before, started producing their own
(16:09):
bottled for lernum.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
By the nineteen seventies, though tiki drinks, many of which
did use lernum, were on the decline.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, falernum basically disappeared from shelves outside of places that.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Were making it, and that's kind of how it was
for a while. That changed though, with the recent revival
in craft cocktails and specifically craft TIHI cocktails in the US,
and so flurnum has made a bit of a comeback here.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah. By like the nineteen nineties, a number of curious
bartenders were trying to track some fulurnum down, having read
about it in these classic recipes, but never encountered it themselves.
The company that currently owns John D. Taylor's Velvet Fulernum,
which is RL Seal and Company, had been making their
own in Barbados the nineteen twenties, but acquired that velvet
(17:03):
for Lernum recipe in nineteen ninety three and started doing
that version. They actually tried exporting it to the US
as early as the year two thousand, but didn't find
success until they paired with the right distributor in like
two thousand and nine or so. There's this wild account
in Punch magazine, which is a great magazine, with all
(17:25):
of these like major craft cocktail dudes like Dale de
Groff and like Jeff Barry talking about how they were
clamoring for this product and like perhaps obviously Sealing Company
wanted to get it to them, but there was just
this industry block where for some reason, like the distributors
were like, you really want a bottle of that? Now
(17:47):
you don't, No, it's here whatever. Yeah. At any rate,
also around the early two thousands, other companies like Fee Brothers,
having been contacted by some of these craft cocktail guys,
started making their own versions. And yeah, I've read I've
(18:08):
read about it being about fu learning being difficult to
find even continuing into now ish, but I've been seeing
it pretty consistently for at least ten years now, So
I don't know. It depends on of course, like Atlanta
is a major metropolitan city, and we're lucky to have
a number of terrific craft cocktail bars and also liquor
(18:32):
stores with really good selections of weird stuff. So I
don't know. Yeah, yeah, your myolage may vary.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah yeah, I don't think I've ever looked for it before,
but I will now. And I would love to hear
from listeners if you have your favorite brands or uses.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Oh yeah, yeah, if there's a cocktail that you that
you really like putting it in that I didn't mention,
if there's a non alcoholic dish or cocktail that you
like putting it in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yes, please let us know. But I think that's what
we have to say about Fulurnum for now.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think it is. We do already have some listener
mail for you, though, and we're going to get into
that as soon as we get back from one more
quick break forward from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, And we're back with
a listener fire wucks New Years.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
Oh. Speaking of our old pal Ruth, he sends in
these wonderful savor song parodies, sent us another one. Once again.
I will not be singing it especially because it goes
in reverse order.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Oh yeah, I you know you could reverse it if
you wanted. Okay, all right, my bad.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Trying to get me to sing on here.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No, I wasn't trying to get you into sing I
was saying that you could put it in.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I could. This is a thing I could too.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Okay, all right, whatever you want. Whatever. Hey, this is
your listener mail. You gave it to yourself. I want
you to do it however you want.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Thank you, Lauren. All right. So this is the twelve
Days of Savor from Ruth. On the first day of Christmas,
I set before the king a partrig cooked with poached pears.
The second day of Christmas. Two baked doves the third
day of Christmas, three spatchcock hens the fourth day of Christmas,
(20:53):
four peppered birds the fifth day of Christmas, five scotch
haggis the sixth day of Christmas, six goose egg kish
on the seventh day of Christmas, seven swans and noblet,
which Ruth has an asterisk to denote. This means they
were skinned and cooked and then brought to the table
(21:13):
with their skins and feathers placed back on and the
next stuff to look real on the eighth day of Christmas.
Eight milk puddings on the ninth day of Christmas. Nine
madelines on the tenth day of Christmas, tin hairs on
cruts on the eleventh day of Christmas. Eleven soup bowls
bubbling on the twelfth day of Christmas. Twelve pies with eels.
(21:39):
Thank you, Thank you as always for sending us these gems.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh what a great feast. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Also,
I don't think I've ever had partridge, but I want
some cooked with poached pears now. Yeah, I want all
of these things.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think that would be really good.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
This would be a really big singular feast. But certainly
I would I would make a I would give it
the old college try, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I feel like, also, I want everybody to give Ruth
credit for all of the not necessarily puns, but the
way this relates to the actual song, Oh yeah, like
maids of Milk, Like just just sit and absorb, yeah,
(22:33):
and really let it.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Also, I do we haven't done any we haven't done
any Eel episodes yet, and bless I'm gonna see if
we can get the surprised eel Astorian to come to
come talk with us. I don't know, we'll figure it out.
We'll see what we can do. Yeah, Angelique wrote huge
(23:02):
fan of the podcast and have been listening since the
early days of food Stuff. It's taken me a while
to finally write in, but had to once you released
the dungeness crab episode. My mom's side of the family
is originally from Burma, and our Christmas Eve dinner protein
of choice would always be curry crab, featuring the deliciously
sweet and local dungeness crab. As we all lived in
(23:22):
the Bay Area, the season for this protein would start
right around the holidays. I can recall going with my
dad and cousin to the fishing docks of Half Moon
Bay to pick up freshly caught dungeness crab with load
up several coolers full of these guys. It was an experience,
and of course, once the crabs got to my grandmother's house,
wow did the magic of curry crab happen. My cousins
(23:44):
and I would often have a competition to see who
could eat the most. Everyone's hands would smell like curry
for days, but it was always worth it. It's been
a few years since we all last had curry crab.
Since several family members have passed and my grandma's house
has since been sold. Thank you for staring up fond
and delicious memories from childhood. Attached is a pet tax
(24:04):
photo of my family's late pup, Tommy and his first
encounter with a live dungeness crab circa twenty eleven. A
dog not harmed during or after photo. Secondly, I wanted
to touch base on your sardine episode. Canned sardines have
always been a protein choice for my family's backpacking adventures.
We'd pick up a few cans from the local Asian
(24:25):
supermarket and a sleeve or two of crackers. When would
be a few miles into our hike, would stop on
the side of the trail and open up the sardines
paired with crackers. While would they hit the spot, especially
after a particularly grueling hiking session. It's been wild to
see the popularity of can sardine's skyrocket, since it's always
been a cheap and sometimes gross slush weird to some
(24:47):
people protein. Our favorite brand is Nuri, a Portuguese brand,
and my personal favorite is the Nuri spiced sardines in
olive oil. I'll try to send you some.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
And attached, uh.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Attached is a photo of a very dubious dog. Uh.
This dog is white and fuzzy, like a little teddy bear.
I always forget what this breed of dog is called.
With like like the silky you know, like the silky
looking puppers with like yeah, the the kind of good
(25:27):
floppy ears very uh, very I wish you would uh
at the crab which is in the foreground, apparently moving
towards the dog in the background.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
It's quite a large crab as well.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
It's quite a large crab. And yeah, Tommy does not
look like he is having any of this. And the
crab might just want to be friends, or or it
might be.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
You know, preparing an attack.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, like saying like, hey, nice kitchen you have here.
It would be a shame if something happened to it,
you know kind of thing. I don't know why. The
crab is a monster. It's a mobster mobster, sorry.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
A mobster monster.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
It's an excellent photo. It communicates a lot. It does
very very good, very good.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Tommy is standing his ground and I appreciate that about him.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Yeah, Tommy's like try it, try it. Oh, I also
love curry crab. Sounds so good.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
That is oddly a preparation of crab I have never had,
and now I'm real mad about it.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Me as well, Me as well. I was chatting to
some ladies at the grocery store today and we were
all talking about what we make over Christmas, and I
was just so endeared by the very wildly different things
that people were making. But I have never heard of
(27:08):
curry crab, But that sounds like a delicious holiday special meal.
That sounds wonderful to me.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah. Oh and good fresh crab m mmm mmmmmm.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And yeah, sardines really have had a bit of a
glow up.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah. I love all of the like slightly pretentious restaurants
around town that now have a selection of canned fish.
They're just like us.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
That is a thing. Yeah, you're right, you're right. But yeah,
thank you, Thank you both to both of these listeners
you're writing in. Uh. If you would like to write
into us, listeners, we would love to hear from you.
Our email is hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and blue Sky at savor pod, and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts myheart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(28:15):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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