Recipe from the Garden: Mojito

Happy 4th of July! A beastly hot day like today deserves a refreshing beverage. This time one with a little “spirit.” As mentioned before, I have enough mint to shake a stick at. That means a lot of mint. Here’s my peppermint, along with lemon balm, chives, and germander. I call this area, and the area on the other side of the back porch steps, my Herb Garden. I also have herbs in the Kitchen Garden, too. That big pot is my mini water garden.

The herb garden.

A close-up of the peppermint and germander.

Peppermint and germander, with a bit of chives sticking out.

I absolutely love a good mojito. So it’s only fitting that I make them when I have so much mint. This recipe comes from www.allrecipes.com. It’s a great website — the recipes with five stars and lots of reviews never let me down. Like this one!

 

The Real Mojito

(from Brandy, www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
• 10 fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
• 2 tablespoons white sugar, or to taste
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 1/2 fluid ounces white rum
• 1/2 cup club soda

Directions
• Place mint leaves and 1 lime wedge into a sturdy glass.
• Use a muddler to crush the mint and lime to release the mint oils and lime juice. (I use the back of a large wooden spoon as my muddler.)
• Add 2 more lime wedges and the sugar, and muddle again to release the lime juice. Do not strain the mixture.
• Fill the glass almost to the top with ice.
• Pour the rum over the ice, and fill the glass with carbonated water.
• Stir, taste, and add more sugar if desired.
• Garnish with the remaining lime wedge.

Just perfect for a hot day like today! I doubled the recipe to fill my pitcher below. Thanks to mom for this gorgeous Simon Pearce hand-blown glass pitcher.

Mojito with lime and mint.