Mojitos!

Every once in a while I enjoy a nice cocktail in the evening. In the summer time I like a minty Mojito to cut the heat at the end of the day. I've had them in bars and I like them, so I decided to try and make it at home. In an experiment, I decided to combine ingredients so I didn't have to ready the mint, squeeze the lime ect. It turned out pretty well, so I'll share it here!

The first step is to make a simple syrup. There's all sorts of ways to make it, in a 1:1, 2:1, 1:2 ratio, and so on. All this means is a simple number of parts of Sugar to Water. I make mine in a 1:1 ratio, if you like yours less sweet, go for a 1:2 ratio.

Put your stove top to medium heat and stir constantly. In this early stage the Sugar will settle on the bottom and will scorch pretty easy. After about 4 minutes most of the Sugar will be dissolved in the water. Then we can move onto step 2.

Minty fresh!

This, is the Mint. Make sure there's no black leaves or discoloration on the Mint. Once you've determined the Mint is devoid of any blemishes, rinse and pat dry. Then step 3!

RAWR!

Crush said mint. This will bruise the Mint, and help extract the Mint flavor more easily. Just ball it up in your fist and toss the whole thing as is into the simple syrup. Then, step 4!

You've picked up some Limes, and they're looking pretty decent. If you want to, you can finely grate some of the green on the outside of the cleaned skins for some Lime oil in the mix. It's tasty, but you can omit this if you want. What we're looking for is on the inside of these green gems. They're small, but if the season is decent and you microwave (7 seconds on high ONLY) or the more physical rolling, you can get a LOT of juice out of these.

Just press firmly against the surface you're working with and roll back and forth several times. You'll feel the Lime is "squishier" to the touch. Cut in half and juice. Then step 5!

Add the juice to the Mint and syrup mix. At this point the mixture should be letting off a little steam. We're not looking for a boil, just a nice simmer. Let it simmer away for 8-10 minutes and sample with a spoon. If it's not minty enough, let it steep for another 5 minutes. Once that's done, you're ready to remove the mint from the syrup, and place in a container.

From there you can mix independently with some Club Soda, or add in your silver Rum directly to the container. Whichever way is your choice!


1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
1 package Mint (or a handful if you're growing it)
3 Limes

On medium heat in a sauce pan, combine Sugar and Water, stirring constantly for 4 minutes until Sugar and Water are completely incorporated. Clean Mint, crush and drop into syrup. Cut and juice Limes, add to the syrup. Steep for 8-10 minutes. Remove Mint from the syrup, and place syrup carefully in a pour-able container. Add alcohol of choice (silver Rum is recommended).