Mojito Cocktail – Drink Recipe

A mojito (pronounced mo-HEE-toe) is a refreshing Cuban cocktail of mint and lime flavors and one of Cuba’s oldest cocktails, comes from the African word mojo, which means to place a little spell.

The history of mojito
Bacardi traces the drink’s roots to 1586, when Francis Drake and his pirates tried to sack Havana for its gold. While the invasion was unsuccessful, Drake’s associate, Richard Drake, was said to have invented a mojitolike cocktail known as El Draque made with aguardiente (a crude forerunner of rum), sugar, lime and mint. Early on, it was consumed for medicinal purposes. Around the mid-1800s, the recipe was altered and gained in popularity as the original Bacardi Company was established. In 1940, Cuban playwright and poet Federico Villoch proclaimed: "When aquardiente was replaced with rum, the Draque was to be called a Mojito".
Other accounts suggest that slaves working in Cuban sugar cane fields in the late 19th century invented the mojito.
Ernest Hemingway fancied them at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana as well as in Key West (his favorite drink was the daiquiri, though). James Bond (aka Pierce Brosnan) drank one in Die Another Day, which was set in Cuba. Next month: an appearance in the Miami Vice movie.

The Basics of Mojito
A traditional mojito is made of five ingredients: rum, mint, sugar, lime juice, and club soda. Muddling is a gentle but thorough bruising of fruit and the herb with sugar at the bottom of a glass. This process helps to release juice and the essential oils. The combination of the refreshing citrus, the sweetness, and the strong mint flavor is used to mask the potency of the rum. To many, it may seem like an intricate cocktail to create but really, it’s quite simple and worth all that extra effort as it produces a great reward.

The Recipe
You will need:
2 oz. (6 cl.) light or gold rum
fresh mint
2 tsp. powdered sugar
1 lime cut in 4 wedegs
club soda
ice
highball glass (or a collins glass from the famous tom collins cocktail)
measuring jigger
muddler
spoon

How to make a mojito
In a highball glass put the 2 tsp. powdered sugar, then add the cut lime (or add just 1 wedge and fresh squeezed lime juice 0.5oz or 1.5cl ). Next comes the mint (how many mint leaves you use depends on how "minty" you want your drink to taste). Gently muddle the mixture. Be careful not to over do it. You don't want to break down the ingredients into mush or bits. Not enough muddling will leave you with a drink that seems like a waste of time and too much may release bitterness found in some of the fruit and herbs. Again, you want to release essential oils, fruit juice, and the delicious flavors but not make mashed ingredients. Add ice (many prefer crushed ice, but in the original recipe ice cubes were used) then the rum and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Top off with club soda and stir lightly to incorporate. Garnish with fresh sprig of mint and an wheel of lime.
If you did it right, this is how it's supposed to look like.


You have made a great Mojito. Enjoy responsibly!



Other Mojito recipes
If you want you can change the usual rum with apple rum or mango rum and you get apple mojito or mango mojito. Other mixes are: Blackberry mojito, Mandarin mojito, Passion Fruit mojito, Watermelon mojito, Pimm's mojito, Dirty mojito. The list can go on but I think these are the best you can drink.


The recipes

Apple Mojito
You will need:
Ingredients
2 oz Apple rum
6 oz club soda
3 lime wedges
2 tsp sugar
3 fresh mint sprigs
Method - The Procedure
Add the lime, sugar and mint sprigs to a highball glass and muddle with a muddler. Add several ice cubes and pour in the apple rum. Top with club soda (adjust to taste), and stir. Garnish with an apple slice and a lime wedge, and serve.

Mango Mojito
You will need:
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz mango rum
3 oz club soda
4 mint leaves
1 lime wedge
Method - The Procedure
Muddle the mint leaves and lime wedge in the bottom of an old-fashioned glass. Add mango rum and club soda as above or adjusted to taste. Add ice cubes, and serve.

Blackberry Mojito
Ingredients
1/4 cup blackberries
3 mint leaves
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 ounces white rum
Cracked ice
Method - The Procedure
In a bar shaker crush together blackberries, mint leaves, sugar and lime juice with a mortar or the back of a spoon until the mixture becomes slightly mushy. Add rum and ice, shake and serve in Tom collins glass, garnish with a lime slice.

Mandarin Mojito
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz Absolut® Mandrin vodka
3 oz sweet and sour mix
3 oz Sprite® soda
1 lime wedge
4 mint leaves
Method - The Procedure
Add mint and lime wedge into Collins glass, then muddle. Fill glass with ice. Add half Sprite (or 7-up) and the other half with sweet and sour mix. Shake in mixing tin and pour.

Passion Fruit Mojito
Ingredients
75 ml dark rum
1 tsp sugar
6 lime wedges
10 - 12 mint leaves
25 ml passion-fruit puree
50 ml soda
2/3 of a glass crushed ice
Method - The Procedure
Add mint and lime wedge into Collins glass, then muddle. Fill glass with ice. Add the passion fruit puree and rum. Mix vigorously for one minute, and garnish with rest of mint and a straw.

Watermelon Mojito
Ingredients
20 mint leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Crushed Ice
3/4 cup light rum
6 ounces seedless watermelon, pureed
Method - The Procedure
In the bottom of a large shaker, muddle the mint, sugar and half the lime juice. Fill the shaker with ice. Add the rum, watermelon and the remaining lime juice. Shake well.
Strain the mojitos into old fashioned glasses over ice and serve.

Pimm’s Mojito
Ingredients
1 oz raspberry vodka
2 oz Pimm’s® gin
1 dash sugar syrup
4 lime wedges
4 raspberries
2 strawberries
4 mint leaves
Method - The Procedure
Place the mint leaves, raspberries, lime wedges and strawberries (sliced in half) into a cocktail shaker. Add a splash of sugar syrup and muddle well. Add the pimm's and raspberry vodka. Prepare enough crushed ice to fill the highball glass to just over half way. Add 5/6 ice cubes to the shaker and shake well. Add the crushed ice to the glass and then strain the contents of the shaker over the crushed ice. Top up with soda. Add two straws and garnish with Strawberry/Lime Wheel/Mint Sprig or all three.

Dirty Mojito
Ingredients
4 mint leaves
2 oz light rum
1 tsp powdered sugar
2 oz soda water
1 splash Coca-Cola®
Method - The Procedure
Muddle mint, sugar, and rum together. Fill glass with ice. Top with soda water and a splash of coke. Dirty Mojito happens.

You have made some great Mojitos. Enjoy responsibly!