A MOJITO FOR ROBIN

MOJITO

2 tablespoons crushed fresh mint leaves

1 ounce sugar syrup

½ ounce lime juice

1 ½ ounces dark rum

A muddler

Today is my wonderful stepdaughter Robin’s 26^th birthday. I’ve known her since she was five years old and she’s brought a lot of joy into my life. Over Christmas, Robin told me how much joy MOJITOs had brought into her life. So today’s cocktail choice was an obvious one.

The MOJITO is a Cuban drink that originally used a type of spearmint that grew all over the island. I was never a big fan of MOJITOS, though I love the idea of muddling mint, and prior to today I had no idea how many variations you can make. 

The MOJITO I made is from In the Land of Cocktails and it’s a strong one. MOJITOs usually have five key ingredients — mint leaves, sugar, lime, rum and soda water. This recipe left out the last ingredient and suggested using dark rum, instead of white, like many other recipes. To make this MOJITO, I started by putting mint leaves and simple syrup (recipe in my 1/26 blog) into a rocks glass. I then muddled the leaves to release the mint oils. To muddle means to mash or crush an ingredient to release flavor. I used a wood muddler, but a large spoon will work too. Muddle gently and leave the mint leaves large enough so that they won’t get sucked up by a straw. You then add the lime juice and rum, muddle again, add ice to the glass, and finish with a garnish of fresh mint or lime.

With the absence of soda water and the addition of dark rum, this was a muddy, muddled MOJITO. The husband said it looked like something that came out of a clogged drain. It tasted better than it looked though, and I loved the mint and rum combo. It was very sweet, but too strong to be refreshing. I think I owe it to Robin to try a different type of MOJITO another day. There are mango mojitos, English mojitos, Greek mojitos, dirty mojitos and mojitos made with icing sugar. In fact, I may need to have a whole mojito week this coming spring. Might be a good time to visit Miss Robin!

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie