The Mojito Effect is a well-documented scientific phenomenon amongst bartenders.
As soon as you send one out ten more get ordered!
For this reason, and because they are seen as a bit labour intensive,
many of us like to have a grumble about them, but I think it's a great drink and
honestly easier than trying to do a lot of shaken drinks.
If made properly it's way more balanced and refreshing than most other sort of
club cocktails and it has a long history of cultural significance.
There are, as with all older cocktails,
competing origin stories for the mojito. The precursor to rum was called
aguadiente de cana and was a really rough spirit we're
talking like molasses moonshine here. Cubans would mix it with sugarcane juice
lime and mint which were all readily available
to make it palatable. Now along came Francis Drake to pillage Havana
but his crew were riddled with dysentery and scurvy. They sent some folks ashore
looking for help and returned with this concoction
which I do think says a lot about the hospitable nature of
the islanders, if it was me I'd have probably been hoping that aguardiente
turned them all blind. Instead this magical tonic cured the
crew and Drake left having only fired a few shots.
The drink became known as "El Draque"
There are some other stories around Drake
himself inventing the drink but I reckon we should give the credit to the Cubans.
The modern Mojito took form as lighter more refined rums entered the
market and thirsty Americans overran Havana
during prohibition, it would make sense that they would be
looking for the local equivalent to their beloved Julep.
The name Mojito also has a few possible explanations
some say it comes from the African Mojo, meaning to cast a little spell,
as a crude version would have been a knock-off drink for African workers on
the sugar plantations others think it comes from the limey
mojo seasoning or from the Spanish mojar meaning wetness.
They all make sense to me as this drink is certainly limey, wet and magical.
The Bacardi family and Cuba have a rather complicated history but to me this drink does seem built
around that grassy freshness from this rum.
Of course there are plenty of others which would work now
but at the time it was a really groundbreaking product.
I have had people comment that it's not the same rum as it used to be and I'm sure that's fair
it still makes a delicious Mojito.
I do think the crushed ice is pretty crucial
to this drink. When I've worked in bars without a crushed ice machine
I'll always make a point of making sure that anyone who orders one
knows that it's going to be coming out on cubed ice to avoid
disappointment. The easiest way to make crushed ice at home
is to use a food processor, if you have one that's powerful enough,
please follow manufacturer's guidelines on this because I'm not taking any responsibility.
Otherwise the old-fashioned way is to
wrap ice in a tea towel and just whack it as hard as you can.
Pretty good for stress relief as well.
A lot of recipes will tell you to muddle
the lime and the mint. I don't muddle I just give the mint a
gentle clap so as to keep the drink lighter and fresher
but if you do then do it gently.
So I do prefer just to do some fresh squeezed lime, find it a little bit easier,
And next it's the fun part if you're feeling a little
bit stressed with everything that's going on in the world then I can highly
recommend crushing your own ice using a big mallet.
I do quite like that one of the guys that used to work at Bomba has called it
Lachy's hitting stick, which I do think is cute because he's definitely
much more likely to be the one getting hit by this than doing the hitting.
So we're just going to get some ice wrapped in a tea towel
this one's quite nice and thick but obviously feel free to use a couple
you can get kind of purpose-built cloth bags which look really cool as well and
kind of absorb the extra moisture but you know unless
you're making mojitos every day it's probably not really worth it
and then just give it a whack.
So keep your fingers out the way.
So when you open it up it should be all nice and kind of pillowy it obviously
doesn't have to be proper fine granules but as long as it kind of
looks like this then we're good to go.
Now just pick off about five or six mint leaves should be plenty
and make sure you leave yourself the sprigs for your garnish
give them a little clap and pop them in.
Then we're gonna go 60 mils of Bacardi
another light Spanish-style rum like Pampero blanco or Havana three-year-old will definitely work as well.
20 mils of your fresh lime juice.
I'm being a little bit lazy, I'm using the
Monin cane sugar, you can obviously make it
yourself just one to one is fine. And I like doing the equal parts of lime
and sugar in this one because I do kind of find
that crushed ice soaks up sweetness a little bit.
So it just is a nice balance and gives it a little
bit of a nicer mouth feel as well.
Then we're just going
to scoop some ice in there.
Give it a bit of a churn through.
Then add some more.
Now at this point, it obviously doesn't matter too much at home, but in the bar
you never want to be having your hands too near the rim of a glass
so if you do kind of get to the point where you're having to hold the ice in a
little bit then just use a bar napkin and kind of
cover and that way the ice isn't going to
spill out as you turn it through. I just like to cap it off with a little
bit more crushed ice so its as refreshing
looking as possible. Tiny little dash of soda water.
Get your mint sprig. I don't like to skimp on the mint sprig
in mojito I think half the fun is kind of you know in half of the flavor that
you get from the mint is actually what's going
up your nostrils, so make sure it gets right in there.
I should probably taste it first actually before I give it to anyone.
Delicious.
Mojito. So now you know.
I mean it's pretty easy
to understand the mojito effect especially on a warm day
this just looks the most refreshing thing that you could possibly see.
Oh and it is the most refreshing thing that you could possibly drink as well.
Just heaps of hydration a little bit of sweet a little bit of sour
the rum you can kind of taste but it definitely you know again like
it's not the same as maybe drinking something like shorter and sharper and
served up. As much as you know that it's there it's
not the star of the show it's just like a little bit boozy but still feels like
you're very much refreshing yourself and not
causing yourself any more damage.
So that's a definitely a nice thing.
And of course that really lovely just big burst
of mint in your face is always going to wake you up.
you