BY GWEN KENNEALLY
The citrus mint flavor of the Cuban classic cocktail, the Mojito, originates from La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. Lore has it that Ernest Hemingway spent many hours sipping this sweet and slightly sour summer drink.
Take the recipe below and times it by six if you have a crowd and want to prepare it in a pitcher. Serve it up with your favorite Cuban food. You can also replace the simple syrup with a teaspoon of regular sugar. To make it “virgin” for the kids or those who don’t want alcohol, omit the rum and add 1 ounce more of both lime and sparkling water.
Cuban Mojito recipe
1-teaspoon simple syrup
Juice from 2 limes (3 ounces)
4 mint leaves
1 sprig of mint
Good white rum (2 ounces)
2 ounces sparkling water
Place the mint leaves into a long mojito glass (often called a “collins” glass, but any tall glass will do) and squeeze the juice from a cut lime over it. You’ll want about three ounces of limejuice. Add the simple syrup, and then gently smash the mint into the limejuice and simple syrup with a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon. Add crushed ice then add the rum and stir, and top off with sparkling water. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Gwen Kenneally is the owner of Back to the Kitchen, Full Service Catering and Party Planning. Check out her website and blog www.Backtothekitchen.net and www.gwenkenneally.blogspot.com. She wrote for the Sun Community Newspapers.
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