Photo: Aydin Aksakal(Getty Images)
Mojito is so much more than that cocktail you end up ordering when all of your friends have stated their mind and the waiter is sighingly waiting for your indecisive mind. Everyone who is a bit into cocktails needs to know how to make this perfect summer refreshment, and we have the best mojito recipe for you. Roll up your sleeves and be patient, as even though it looks simple to make probably because it’s colorless, that’s just something people who don’t know how to make mojitos think. This reviving drink isn’t complicated to make, but it takes time and some pro tips.
What is a Mojito?
Mojito is an alcoholic cocktail from Cuba that is in the highball category of mixed drinks. Highball drinks are composed of an alcoholic base spirit and a larger proportion of a non-alcoholic mixer. The cocktail has a relatively small alcoholic content of about 10 percent, and a Mojito without alcohol is called a Virgin Mojito, but also a Nojito, as in “no, you shouldn’t drink that”.
Mojito Ingredients
Mojitos are so popular because you don’t need too many fancy drinks to make it, actually, you just need one alcoholic beverage and several cheap household items. That’s what makes them so suitable for in-house mixing, and no beach or pool party is complete without them, so this is what you need.
– White rum
– Limes
– Soda
– Sugar
– Mint
– Ice
– Highball glass
– A muddler or a rolling pin
How to make a Mojito
There a lot of school of thoughts on how to make a Mojito, which is normal as it is one of the world’s most popular cocktails, but you can’t go wrong with this one.
Start off by taking a lime and putting it on your kitchen counter, covering it with a straight palm and just roll the lime a couple of times to make it softer and loosen the oils in the peel. Cut the end of a lime, and then cut off a piece of lime just half an inch thick, proceed to cut that piece into four equal parts.
Place the four parts inside the highball glass, and join them with eight or nine leaves of mint, generally, go for the smaller ones of the bunch as they are more aromatic. Keep in mind to pick out the mint leaves gently and to use the actual leaves, and not the stems. There is a school of thought that says slapping the mints is the thing to do before putting it in the glass, as it releases the aroma even more for that heavy mint Mojito.
Add a teaspoon of sugar, or a teaspoon and a half if you or the person you’re making the cocktail for have a sweet tooth. Now it’s the time to bring out the muddler or anything else that has a flat, about a half an inch bottom, and proceed to squash the ingredients about eight times. Do it nice and slowly, do not go aggressive and fast like a jack rabbit as it will make the Mojito drink too sour. Pour two or slightly fewer ounces of white rum in the glass.
Photo: Eitan Simanor (Getty Images)
Now, it’s not a proper Mojito if it’s made with regular out-of-the-freezer ice, it needs to be crushed ice. You can make ice cubes into crushed ice either by using a muddler on the ice inside of a shaker and here you can go berserk. Another good option is to put the ice in a kitchen towel, make like a small mace and pummel a firm, unbreakable surface with it a couple of times until it looks like the snow that started melting. You’ll need about 10-15 ice cubes.
How to make a Mojito final touches
Fill the 3 quarters of the glass with the crushed ice, top it off with the soda water, and stirred it in a downward-upward fashion like you’re making a stew. Put some more crushed ice on top without overspilling, add a mint leaf, that can have a stem, as a decoration on the top of the glass.
Put a straw in, lay back, and refresh yourself. What do you think of this Mojito recipe?
