[Sca-cooks] Blueberry/ Gooseberry Wine Documentation?

[Jeff Gedney]

>The big boom in booze-related sugar use probably came later, when
> the price dropped like a stone.

Well, not quite, in the 1630's someone "discovered" that the treacle (molasses) extracted in the refining process could be fermented and distilled, and there soon came a florusing trade in the beverage made thereof, "Rumbustion", which name was soon shortened to "Rum".
Prior to that, molasses (black sugar) was considered an inferior albeit very cheap alternative to regular sugar, and tended NOT to be shipped out of the Carrribean islands, as the price per chest of the refined white sugar was much higer, and brought much better returns. Indeed in many places the molasses would be simply dumped in pits, or in the river if one was available, as waste. It was almost never taken as cargo in a ship (- although Spanish molasses did make it to England with regularity, it was not considered a luxury product and indeed almost beneath the notice of the taxman, and the importation was done by the numerous small time local shipping operators usually referred to as "coasters"... 
actually treacle was used by smugglers as a cover cargo to hide contraband)

This is why the production of Rum in the 1640's was such a boon to the Carribean economy, as it was producing wealth from waste, literally "making gold out of straw".

The cheap liquor thus produced made it attractive as a drink for sailors (to keep them mollified), as it was distilled, and you could get more bang per gallon than beer, and therefore the necessary amount to supply a ship's compliment for a certain duration took up less space in the purser's store room. 
And so the sailor's addiction to rum and grog was born (after period). 
Prior to that aquavitae and other ardent beverages were pretty much reserved to the Captain's mess. 

Capt Elias