Cumberland rum nicky

Cumberland rum nicky
	A homemade Cumberland rum nicky tart
Type	Pie or tart
Course	Dessert or snack
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Region or state	Cumbria
Associated cuisine	England
Created by	Traditional
Invented	Late 18th century
Main ingredients	Shortcrust pastry; Dates; Ginger; Rum;

Cumberland rum nicky is a sweet

stem ginger, flavoured with rum, and sweetened with brown sugar. Rum nickies are associated with the historic county of Cumberland (now part of Cumbria) in northwest England, and the ingredients used in their manufacture reflect the county's former significance as a major import and trading centre for products of the UK's Caribbean colonies. As with many traditional foodstuffs, the precise list of ingredients can vary between different cooks and recipes, with currants and cinnamon being common additions or substitutions.^[1]

History

Originally founded as local trading and fishing ports, the ports of northwest England grew in national significance during the 17th and 18th centuries, following the founding of agricultural plantation colonies in the Caribbean. This placed towns such as

Triangular Trade, wherein cloth and other trade goods were shipped from England down to West Africa, swapped for slaves who were shipped to the Caribbean, and then the products of that slave labour were brought back to England.^[2]

This trade was highly lucrative, and between 1750 and 1800 Whitehaven was the third-largest port in England.

Significant amongst the products imported through Whitehaven were foodstuffs: spices like

rum butter, hiring fair cakes and Hawkshead cake remain relatively uncommon outside the northwest of England, while more widespread delicacies such as gingerbread have many local varieties.^[1]

The precise origin of the rum nicky recipe is not known, but

food journalist Andrew Webb states that it was "created at the high-water mark of the region's trade in the 1800s",^[3] and it includes many of these ingredients that were unknown in the region before the start of the Caribbean trade. Older recipes indicate that the pastry and filling were originally formed into individual pies, and the tops of each were slashed or 'nicked' with a knife, this latter action likely being the origin of the dish's name.^[4]^[1]

Description and ingredients

The modern Cumberland rum nicky is commonly presented as a large, open-topped tart, designed to be sliced into individual portions before serving. The tart shell is formed from shortcrust pastry, which is used to line a shallow, 3–5 cm deep, flan tin.^[4]^[1]

The tart filling can vary between different regions and different cooks, but usually includes a large quantity of dried fruit, bound together with a mixture of

stem ginger', diced finely rather than grated – but may also include additional spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg.^[1]

Most commonly, the tart is decorated with an interwoven open lattice of pastry strips, with the filling visible between them.[1] However, the ingredients can alternatively be formed into individual pies, fully enclosed by pastry in a similar manner to other fruit-filled pastries from northwest England, such as Eccles cakes or Chorley cakes. These individual pastries are then slashed or 'nicked' on their upper surface using a knife, to form parallel slashes or a hash (#) pattern.^[1] The larger tart portions are commonly served with cream, clotted cream, ice cream, or another similar sauce.

References

^
ISBN 978-0-95537493-7
.

^ Cumbria County Council. "Slavery – its Cumbrian Connections" (PDF). Cumbria.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
^
ISBN 978-1847946232
.

^ ^a ^b Hollywood, Paul. "Cumberland rum Nicky". BBC Food. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

[baxter2015-1] 
ISBN 978-0-95537493-7
.

[cumbriacc-2] Cumbria County Council. "Slavery – its Cumbrian Connections" (PDF). Cumbria.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

[webb2011-3] 
ISBN 978-1847946232
.

[bbc-4] Hollywood, Paul. "Cumberland rum Nicky". BBC Food. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

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