Good Eats Club

An Improvised Solution to a Mojito Craving

by Greg Singer

As of this past weekend, it has finally become Mojito season in New York.  It was  90 degrees on Saturday and the sun was blazing.  So, after watching the USA beat Australia in their final tune-up game before the World Cup Finals start on Friday, I was thirsting for that perfect libation that is part confection, part limeade, but mostly liquor.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that our long-procrastinated grocery trip remained so, we lacked the proper accouterments, so I had to improvise.  I think the end result, while certainly not a mojito, turned out to be really, really good.  For the moment I am calling it the “Mother Hubbard.”  Sorry there is no picture, but we drank them too fast and now don’t have the ingredients to make more.

The one ingredient we had plenty of was mint.  For some reason, we have mint growing all over our house.  I suspect that Sarah and I each planted some in several places without the other’s knowledge.   But Rum and limes were problems.  Over memorial day weekend, we went camping with some friends at a State Forest in which the consumption of alcoholic beverages is discouraged.   To circumvent this regulation, in place of the beer that we would normally select for fireside inebriation, we drank Rum and Coke.  About a liter of the cheap spiced rum made it home with us, but spiced rum is not ideal for Mojitos, which require the relative crispness of a good light rum to play off the sweetness of the sugar and not interfere with the cooling sensation of the mint.  We also managed to bring home a couple of limes, but not nearly enough for the number of drinks I envisioned.  Fortunately, there were a few lemons in the fridge that had mostly outlived their usefulness.  They seemed like just the thing to stretch the few limes into more drinks.

So, here’s the recipe:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle 6-8 large mint leaves with a tablespoon of sugar.  Add half of a lime and half of a lemon, cut into small pieces, and mash it all together until the citrus has given up all of its juice.  Add 3 ounces of spiced rum and ice.  Shake vigorously and pour the whole mixture into a glass (I like Ball jars).  Add enough seltzer to fill the glass. Then plop down in the kiddie pool and enjoy.