The best mojito, a ‘dirty one’

This is not the best authentic mojito, but it is my best mojito. Why? Because it doesn’t involve fussing over ingredients, preparing simple syrups, shaking or straining to make it look pretty. The only effort involved, is the muddling of the mint and lime, but apart from that it is simple.

A mojito (pronounced mo-he-toe) is originally a Cuban cocktail consisting of white rum, cane sugar, lime juice, mint and club soda. The mint used in Cuban mojitos is spearmint or yerba buena, which confusingly isn’t yerba buena, but just the local Spanish word for the local variety of mint. The rest of the world tends to use whatever mint they have at hand, which will probably be Mentha sachalinensis or common garden mint.

Ingredients (for one mojito)

• half a large lime cut into chunks
• 1 tsp of cane sugar
• 4 large mint leaves (I used 10 small leaves as something has been eating the mint in our garden)
• 5 tbls of white rum
• 6 tbls of sparkling water
• 4 ice cubes, crushed

Method
Put the mint leaves and sugar in the bottom of a cocktail shaker (or similar vessel) and using a muddling stick (I use a spurtle), crush (some people say bruise the mint, I say pfff!)  the mint leaves with the sugar. Add the lime chunks and crush, to release the juice and oils from the zest. Add the rum, water and ice, mix to combine and pour into a tall high-ball glass. Decorate with mint leaves and a slice of lime. I find it is better to drink the mojito with a straw, because I use granulated sugar instead of simple syrup, you get a a little sweetness from the bottom of the glass on each sip.