Binny's Home Bartender: Frozen Mojito

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Ah, the mojito. Cooling fresh mint, zippy lime, fine white rum and a little sugar for balance all stretched out with soda, resulting in an incomparable highball for battling July’s sticky heat. What could be more refreshing on a sweltering summer day than this Cuban classic? It turns out that this is more than just a rhetorical question, but one of real import to the cocktail conscious.

Let’s dive into the deep end of the kiddie pool for a few minutes of adult swim. That’s right, it’s the fourth installment of “Binny’s Summer of GOOD Frozen Cocktails”: The frozen mojito.

The mojito is primed for endless riffing, taking a relatively simple five ingredient cocktail into a realm of complexity never imagined in old Havana. The frozen mojito, itself a riff, can involve multiple steps, but we have decided on the path of least resistance. If a cleaner, less green appearance is desired, feel free to make some mint simple syrup by briefly blanching1 a bunch of mint, blending it with some simple syrup and straining out the solids. Replace the simple syrup in the recipe with mint simple syrup and omit the mint leaves from the drink.

In our version we just blend fresh mint right into the drink for ease and intensity of flavor. This is admittedly a far cry from the gentle bruising of leaves we might recommend for a traditional mojito, but this mixologist must confess that we do not believe this approach to be sinful in the slightest.

In another departure from the average mojito that calls for just lime juice, we often like to muddle lime wedges along with mint and granulated sugar. Like the related caipirinha, in which muddling lime wedges with sugar is the standard technique, we like the way rough granules of sugar help to extract citrus oils from the lime skins. We wanted to bring a little of that complexity to the frozen mojito, so we are calling for the addition of a little lime zest. You’ll be glad we did.

When it comes to rum, the genuine article from Cuba would be ideal, but alas that is disallowed by current U.S. policy. Therefore, feel free to explore white rums to your heart’s content or go with our choice, Havana Club Añejo Blanco, made by Bacardi using the original Havana Club recipe. We won’t get into this international debate between Cuba’s Havana Club (available in much of the world) and Bacardi’s revival of the label for the rest of us. The main thing is, use a good, aged blanco with plenty of character for the best results.

That about sums it up for this next level refresher, other than to say – Stay cool, Honey Bunny, stay cool! And don’t let anyone take your Bad Mother F#*@%$ wallet. You’ll need it to get a good bottle of rum.

Cheers!

Frozen Mojito

INGREDIENTS:

SIMPLE STEPS:

  1. Add the rum, lime juice, simple syrup, mint and lime zest to a blender. Blend until mint has been incorporated and mixture is an even green color.
  2. Add ice to blender. Blend until smooth.
  3. Pour the mixture into a chilled glass.
  4. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Footnotes:

  1. This is a classic technique for creating and preserving a bright green color in vegetables. It is often used on herbs that are destined for use in infused oils or, as in this case, a simple syrup. You get the color and easy extraction of flavor with a few seconds in boiling water, an immediate dunk in a bath of ice water, then quick spin in the blender with simple syrup. Straining then removes fibrous solids. For mint, hold a bunch by the stems and dip the leaves in boiling water for a few seconds. Watch out for hot steam.

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