charanda is a Mexican rum distilled chiefly from cold-extracted, fermented sugar-cane juice, although sugar-cane byproducts, including molasses and piloncillo, can also be used. To be considered charanda, the sugar cane must be grown within its appellation of Michoacán, Mexico, and undergo double distillation (some producers use pot stills, others column; some charandas blend the two distillates). Made since the mid-nineteenth century, charanda was first called that in 1907, when Cleofas Murguíra Riera opened a distillery in Uruapan and used the name for his cane distillate. It received a protected designation of origin in 2013. See PDO. In the native Purépecha language its name denotes the red-hued soil of the region. Popular brands include Tarasco and Uruapan, which are still primarily found in Mexico. Until recently, charanda’s market was purely domestic, but the rise in interest in artisanal rum seen in the 2010s has brought it into foreign markets, where it has won accolades among the cognoscenti.
See also chinguirito; Mexico; and rum.
“Charanda.” In Denominaciones de Origen: Orgullo de Mexico, 95–107. Mexico City: Tirant lo Blanch, 2016.
By: Anna Archibald