Region & History

Charanda is the sugarcane spirit from Michoacán in western Mexico, and it has something rarely found with rum: an officially defined heartland. It's called Uruapan. Around the city lie the fields from which the spirit originates. Its name comes from the Cerro de la Charanda, a hill of red earth; in the language of the Purépecha, the indigenous people of this region, the word is commonly understood to mean red or colored earth.

Sugarcane has been cultivated here since 1550, according to the official protection decree. In the 17th century, the Hacienda de Taretán arose with a cane mill, a trapiche. Later, the region had ten such mills, producing refined sugar, raw sugar, and piloncillo, the unrefined cane sugar in solid blocks. The sugar cultivation of New Spain, as colonial Mexico was called, rested on forced labor, including that of enslaved Africans. Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821.

The Asociación de Productores de Charanda, based in Uruapan, applied for the protected designation of origin, first on February 22, 2000, and again on March 27, 2002. An excerpt of the application appeared on August 8, 2002, in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, Mexico's official gazette. No objections were raised during the two-month period.

The protection decree itself, signed on August 12, 2003, was published in the official gazette on August 27, 2003. The holder of the designation is the Mexican state. Anyone wishing to use it needs authorization from the IMPI, the patent institute.

The protected origin covers 16 municipalities in central Michoacán, totaling 8,606 square kilometers. These include Uruapan, Tacámbaro, Peribán, Los Reyes, Tancítaro, and Taretán. Well-known brands include Tarasco and Uruapan; the house of Casa Tarasco traces its beginnings, by its own account, to 1907. Tequila and Mezcal, the agave spirits that shape Mexico's reputation for spirits, are covered in the Tequila journey.