The first time I had a mojito was in Puerto Rico 4 years ago. John had to work there for two weeks, so I went to visit the weekend in between.
Mmm . . . they were SO good. It's been my all time favorite drink ever since. But around here, I don't seem to get it much. I tried to learn how to make them when I got back and was successful on a single drink basis. But who wants to make each drink by hand. AND, I recently transplanted a bunch of mint from my dad's house, so I had my own source!
In order to make a sweet drink and being southern, I knew I needed simple syrup (you know . . . the whole sweet tea / unsweet tea thing), but who knew you could make MINTED simple syrup.
Minted Simple Syrup
3 cups fresh mint leaves
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Put it all in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil, cook for 1 minute or so, turn off the heat, and let sit for 30 minutes. Strain ou the mint leaves through a fine mesh sieve and put it in the refrigerator to cool.
Batch Mojitos
1 cup minted simple syrup
1 3/4 cup light rum
1 cup fresh lime juice
Don't you love my nana's juicer?
All of that can be combined together in advance if you wish.
To make the individual mojitos, put ice in a glass (crushed if you want) with a few fresh mint leaves. Pour your mojito mixture, top it off with a squeeze of fresh lime and something bubbly. Most recipes call for club soda, but you can use sparlking water, perrier, even la croix (which is all that I had). Of course, my mouth was salivating and I was so excited for my final drink that I forgot to take a picture.
We're going to the beach tomorrow, and I'm going to take a bunch of our mint from the back yard. How perfect will that be!?
so, the minted simple syrup really makes these the best mojitos ever. i thought i had a pretty good concoction (made with agave syrup), but this one wins hands down.
ReplyDeleteanyhoo, here are my mods when fresh limes are in short supply (or I simply don't want to juice limes all night).
I substituted Santa Cruz Organic Limeade (http://www.scojuice.com/products/juices/limeade)(we almost always have this on hand for margaritas) for the lime juice and cut the sweetener (the minted simple syrup) in half. (actually, I doubled the recipe, except for the minted simple syrup; makes twice as much :)
also, I shredded (tore by hand) the fresh mint leaves that you put in the glasses and added a healthy (as in big!) splash of S. Pellegrino.
Then, I did indeed squeeze a wedge of lime on top, just to give it that fresh taste. Mmmm.
Oh, and BTW, the minted simple syrup seems to store just fine in the fridge. I've been toying with the idea of maybe even giving this (with the mojita recipe, of course) for xmas and other gifts. Yes?