It’s Mojito season!

It’s summer, you know. If you’re not drinking a Mojito, you should be. I think international law should designate the Mojito as the official drink of summer.

Mojito

1.5 oz. White rum
1 oz. Simple Syrup
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
Fresh mint
Soda

Muddle about 4 leaves of mint with the syrup. (Don’t pulverize the leaves. The mint flavor will be too strong. Bruise them lightly.) Add  the lime juice, rum and shake with ice. Strain into a glass over crushed ice. Top with club soda.

To me, it’s important to strain the mojito. Tiny bits of mint break off during shaking, and they end up between your teeth. And what if your guest gets wrapped up in your intensely brilliant persona and forgets about their drink? It could get too minty! So you know, strain it please.

I bet you’re wondering why my Mojito is red. And why there’s basil in the picture. Well, I happened to use pomegranate syrup (2 c. POM Wonderful juice, 2 c. sugar. Shake several times until sugar is dissolved) instead of regular syrup. And I did half basil, half mint. It’s really quite good. If you’re in the mood to make a lot of different drinks, it’d be fun to have a Mojito bar.

I could dream every night about how to stock a mojito bar. A few ideas I had without falling asleep: basil, mint, peaches, strawberry, ginger, watermelon, honeydew, cucumber.