RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS:
  • 5 - 6 mint leaves
  • 2 Tea spoons of sugar 
  • 60ml White Rum
  • Half a lime cut into wedges or 20ml of lime juice
  • Club soda, to top
  • Ice
  • A sprig of mint and lime wheel or wedge to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS:

Place the mint leaves and 1 lime wedge into a sturdy glass and use a muddler to crush the mint and lime to release the mint oils and lime juice. 

Add the remaining lime wedges and the sugar, and muddle again to release the lime juice. 

Alternatively muddle the mint with the sugar and add lime juice 

Do not strain the mixture. Fill the glass almost to the top with ice. Pour the rum over the ice and top up with soda water. 

Garnish with a lime wheel or wedge and a sprig of mint.

ABOUT

The Mojito is a traditional Cuban highball.

The cocktail often consists of five ingredients, white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime, soda water, and mint.

The combination of flavours greatly complements the Rum, which has made the Mojito a popular summertime serve.

The Mojito is one of the most famous rum-based highballs, which has led to several variations.

The Mojito garnished with mint and dried citrus

 

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Mojito has Havana, Cuba directly linked to its place of birth, however its origins are subject to a little debate.

It was well documented that local South American Indians had remedies for various tropical illnesses, knowing this a small boarding party went ashore on Cuba and came back with the ingredients for an effective medicine.

The ingredients were aguardiente de cana (translated as "burning water", a crude form of rum made from sugar cane) this was mixed with local tropical ingredients, lime, sugarcane juice, and mint.

Lime juice itself would have been a significant prevention to scurvy and dysentery, noted ailments at the time.

Another origin is that drink was adapted by African slaves who worked in the Cuban sugar cane fields during the 19th century.

Guarapo, the sugar cane juice often used in mojitos was a popular drink among the slaves, however there is no evidence that it was consumed with the addition of lime juice.

Other theories behind the origin of the name mojito are that the name relates to mojo, a Cuban seasoning made from lime and used to flavour dishes or that the name Mojito is simply a derivative of mojadito (Spanish for "a little wet")

The mojito has been historically noted as a favourite drink of author Ernest Hemingway.

It has been claimed that Hemingway made the bar, La Bodeguita del Medio, famous when he became one of its regulars, writing "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita" on a wall of the bar.

Although its origins can be debated its popularity is unquestioned, peaking in 2016 when leading market research found the Mojito to be the most popular cocktail across Britain and France.