5 Wild Variations on Your Classic Mojito Recipe (Or How to Get a Party Started)

What is a Mojito?

The Mojito is a traditional Cuban cocktail consisting of ingredients that are indigenous to this island country in the Caribbean. It is usually made of white rum, sugar (usually the juice of sugarcane), club soda, mint and lime.

Preparing a Mojito, however, requires a bit more effort than other mixed beverages, as it involves a process called muddling, or a thorough but gentle bruising or mashing of herbs and fruits to release essential oils, and juices. Muddling also allows the flavors of fruits and herbs to bind better with the alcohol than would have been possible had these ingredients been used whole. It is an important process in the preparation of popular cocktails like the Whiskey Smash too.

A Mojito cocktail is essentially made by adding fresh lime juice to sugar and fresh mint. A simple syrup can be used instead of sugar. The mixture is then put through muddling. Be careful to only bruise the mint leaves and not shred them. Then pour in the rum and stir the mint lime sugar mixture so that the sugar gets dissolved and the mint leaves rise to the top of the tumbler. The Mojito is then topped with ice and sparkling soda water and garnished with lime wedges and mint leaves.

The cool and refreshing flavor of the mint and lime, the sweetness of the sugar, and the fizz of the club soda complement and temper the alcohol's potency. This classic cocktail is a summertime favorite in many parts of the world.

Origins of This Classic Cocktail

The origins of the Mojito are not very clear. It is often said that the beverage was created by African slaves from a simple sugarcane-based alcohol called 'Aguardiente de Cana', which literally translates to 'firewater of the sugarcane'. The name 'Mojito' stems from the African term 'mojo', meaning 'a little spell'. It may have originated from the Spanish word 'mojar', which means 'a little wet'.

Some trace the origins of the cocktail to the medicinal drink named after English explorer, privateer, and slave trader Sir Francis Drake. Drake and his men, sponsored by Queen Elizabeth I, landed in the Cuban city of Havana in the late 1500s to seize the Aztec gold held in the royal treasury in the city.

However, the invasion was a failure, and some of Drake's crew members were struck with scurvy and dysentery. Native Indians, who possessed effective remedies for several diseases, used aguarediente de cana, sugar cane juice, mint leaves, and lime juice to prepare a tonic. Drake sailed away from Havana without the gold but with this medicinal drink.

It was called Draque (or Drake/Drac/Drak) after the famed captain. However, according to some accounts, the tonic wasn't originally Cuban and was invented on board Captain Drake's ship. Its medicinal value was noted by author Ramon de Paula, who, in the backdrop of the cholera epidemic in Havana, wrote- "Every day at 11 o'clock, I consume a little Drake made from aguardiente and I am doing very well."

The drink remained a medicinal tonic until the mid-1800s, but the original Draque recipe changed when the Bacardi rum distillery was set up by Don Facundo Bacardi Masso. Rum replaced aguardiente and Mojito emerged in place of Draque. Early Bacardi advertisements that promoted the Mojito, made the name stick.

Others say that the massive influx of American bartenders, breweries, and distilleries into Cuba in the wake of the Prohibition in the US (from 1920 to 1933), introduced the local population to the Mint Julep cocktail, which eventually led to the invention of the Mojito.

In fact, Mojito can be considered to blend the flavors of two classic cocktails -- the lime-laced Daiquiri and the spirituous Mint Julep. It is pointed out that aguardiente was tamed by adding mint, lime juice, and sugar before the Prohibition, and in the years immediately after, soda water, and ice fired it up.

The Mojito was apparently American novelist Ernest Hemingway's favorite. He is said to have had it often at Havana's La Bodeguita del Medio, which was one of his preferred bars.

The beverage was prominently featured in a scene from Die Another Day, a 2002 James Bond film.

Classic Mojito Recipe

Ingredients-

• 1/2 lime
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 10 mint leaves
• Club soda
• 1 1/2 ounces of white rum
• Mint and lime slices for garnishing

1. Muddle the mint leaves, lime, and sugar in a highball glass.
2. Fill the highball glass with ice.
3. Pour rum into the glass, and stir.
4. Top off with club soda.
5. Garnish with mine and lime slices.

New and Improved Mojito Recipe 1- Frohito

The evergreen appeal of the classic Mojito notwithstanding, there are several variations to try out. These are delightfully flavorful and will be a hit at any party. So go on and experiment a little with these five twists to the classic.

Ingredients-

• 1 ounce of divided mint syrup
• 2 ounces of light rum
• 1 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 8 ounces (about 1 cup) of crushed ice
• Mint sprig for garnishing

1. Pour half ounce of mint syrup into a chilled highball glass. Set aside.
2. Pour lime juice, rum, and ice into a blender. Blend till the mixture assumes a uniform frappe consistency.
3. Place the mixture in the prepared glass. Top with an extra half ounce of mint syrup.
4. Use a mint sprig for garnishing.

1. Fill half a small-sized saucepan with water. Bring the water to a boil over a high flame.
2. Add a cup of tightly-packed mint leaves.
3. Blanch for 5 seconds, until wilted and bright green. Strain the leaves.
4. Put 3 ounces of simple syrup into a blender and add the mint leaves to the blender. Blend until the ingredients are liquefied.
5. Strain the contents through a fine-mesh sieve, while pressing firmly in order to extract all the liquid. Throw away the solids.
6. Refrigerate the mint syrup. It can be stored for two weeks.

2. Grilled Pineapple Mojito

Ingredients-

• 3/4 ounce of agave nectar
• 1 mint sprig
• 1/2 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 ounces of pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup of grilled pineapple chunks
• 2 ounces of extra dry Brugal Especial rum
• Mint leaves for garnishing

1. Muddle the agave nectar, mint sprig, and lime juice gently in a Collins glass.
2. Pour in the pineapple juice. Stir to combine.
3. Pour crushed ice. Top with grilled pineapple chunks and rum.
4. Use mint leaves for garnishing.

1. Take a ripe pineapple, remove its skin and top and cut it into 1/3-inch pieces.
2. Grill till it is caramelized.
3. Slice into chunks.

3. Gin Gin Mule

Ingredients-

• 1 mint sprig
• 3/4 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce of syrup
• 1 ounce of Audrey Saunders' ginger beer
• 1 3/4 ounces of Tanqueray London dry gin
• Mint sprig for garnishing

1. Muddle the syrup, mint sprig, and lime juice in a shaker.
2. Add the ginger beer, gin, and ice. Shake until well-chilled.
3. Strain the contents over fresh ice in a highball glass.
4. Use a mint sprig for garnishing.

4. Yerba Buena

Ingredients-

• 8 mint leaves
• 1/2 ounce of agave nectar
• 1/2 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• Chilled ginger beer
• 2 ounces of reposado tequila
• Mint sprig and lime wheel for garnishing

1. Muddle the agave nectar, lime juice, and mint in a highball glass.
2. Pour the tequila and fill the glass with ice.
3. Top with ginger beer. Gently stir to combine the ingredients.
4. Garnish with a lime wheel and a mint sprig.

5. Watermelon Mojito

Ingredients-

• 4 large-sized mint leaves
• 4 ounces of seedless, chopped watermelon
• 1/4 ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 1/2 ounces of light rum
• 1 tablespoon of agave nectar
• Lemon twist for garnishing

1. Muddle the mint and watermelon with lime juice and agave nectar in a shaker.
2. Pour the rum into the shaker and fill it up with ice.
3. Shake until the contents are well chilled. Strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass.
4. Use a lemon twist for garnishing.

Serving Tips - How to Dish it Out it With Style

Here are tips to help you prepare the perfect Mojito, whether you're sticking to the classic recipe or creating a variation.

1. Keep the basic ingredient ratios the same at all times. To obtain perfectly balanced flavors, use one and a half ounces of white rum, and about one ounce of lime juice or half a lime.
2. Take the mint leaves between your hands and slap them several times before placing them in the glass. This process stimulates the oils and ensures that most of the flavors are transferred to the cocktail.
3. Don't rip, or tear the mint leaves as it may cause the drink to go bitter. As discussed before, also avoid shredding the mint leaves. Put them through a process called muddling instead, in order to release their essential oils. Shake the cocktail carefully so as not to crush or tear the lime and mint leaves.
4. Go for crushed ice. It offers an additional surface area that allows the beverage to cool faster. Crushed ice also melts quicker and works well with a drink like Mojito which has strong flavors.
5. Always use dry white rum when making Mojitos. Avoid golden, dark, or spiced rum.
6. Avoid using a pre-made Mojito mix from a bottle.
7. If you want your cocktail to have small mint pieces floating on the top, strain the contents into a glass filled with ice, and garnish with lime and fresh mint.
8. Mojitos most commonly use spearmint. Make use of Mentha x villosa, which is a mint variety native to Cuba for a genuine Cuban Mojito. Its flavor is more understated than spearmint.
9. It is best to use granulated sugar for classic Mojito cocktails. Granulated sugar ensures that the drink is not too sweet and the occasional undissolved granule of sugar gives the classic Mojito its signature texture. Superfine or caster sugar, which dissolves more readily in cold beverages, may alternatively be used.
10. Limes that are freshly squeezed offer the best flavor. Pick limes that have smooth skin for making your cocktail. Such limes usually have a lot of juice.