Cumberland rum nicky facts for kids
A homemade Cumberland rum nicky tart
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| Type | Pie or tart |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert or snack |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Region or state | Cumbria |
| Associated national cuisine | England |
| Created by | Traditional |
| Invented | Late 18th century |
| Main ingredients | |
Cumberland rum nicky is a sweet tart or pie from northwest England. It is made with shortcrust pastry and filled with dates and stem ginger. The filling is flavoured with rum and sweetened with brown sugar.
This tasty treat comes from the historic area of Cumberland, which is now part of Cumbria. The special ingredients in rum nickies show how important Cumberland used to be. It was a big trading centre for goods coming from the Caribbean. Just like many old recipes, the exact ingredients can change. Some cooks might add currants or cinnamon.
A Look Back: History of Rum Nicky
The ports in northwest England, like Whitehaven in Cumberland, grew very important in the 17th and 18th centuries. This was because of new farms set up in the Caribbean. These ports became a key part of a big trading system. Ships would carry goods from England to West Africa. There, they would trade for people who were forced into slavery and taken to the Caribbean. Then, products made by these enslaved people were brought back to England. This trade made a lot of money. Between 1750 and 1800, Whitehaven was one of England's busiest ports.
Many food items came through Whitehaven. These included spices like ginger, dried tropical fruits, raw sugar, and other products made from sugarcane, such as rum. Because of this local trade, and some smuggling, these products were easier to find and cheaper in Cumberland. Elsewhere in the UK, they were seen as rare and exotic.
This is why many traditional Cumberland dishes from that time use sugar, rum, dried fruit, and spices. For example, you might find rum butter, hiring fair cakes, and Hawkshead cake in the northwest of England. Even more common treats like gingerbread have special local versions there.
No one knows the exact moment the rum nicky recipe was created. However, food writer Andrew Webb suggests it appeared when the region's trade was at its peak in the 1800s. The recipe uses many ingredients that were not known in the area before the Caribbean trade began. Older recipes show that the pastry and filling were first made into small, individual pies. The tops of these pies were often cut or 'nicked' with a knife. This cutting action is probably where the dish got its name.
What's in a Rum Nicky?
Today, the Cumberland rum nicky is usually a large, open-topped tart. It is designed to be cut into slices before people eat it. The tart shell is made from shortcrust pastry. This pastry lines a shallow baking tin, usually about 3–5 centimetres deep.
The filling for the tart can be different depending on the region or the cook. But it usually has a lot of dried fruit. This fruit is mixed with rum, brown sugar, and butter. Dates are the most common dried fruit used in a rum nicky. However, some cooks might use other fruits like currants or cherries instead of some or all of the dates. In the south of Cumbria, some cooks might use a cake mixture to hold the fruit together, instead of just butter and sugar.
Other flavours are often added to the fruit filling. Ginger is the most popular, usually candied ginger root called 'stem ginger'. This is diced into small pieces rather than grated. Sometimes, other spices like cinnamon or nutmeg are also added.
Most often, the tart is decorated with a woven pattern of pastry strips on top. This lets you see the filling underneath. But sometimes, the ingredients are made into individual pies. These pies are fully covered with pastry, similar to other fruit pastries from northwest England, like Eccles cakes or Chorley cakes. These individual pies are then 'nicked' on top with a knife. This creates parallel cuts or a hash (#) pattern. The larger tart slices are often served with cream, clotted cream, ice cream, or a similar sauce.
