Last spring I went a little crazy with the herb garden on our patio and planted WAY too much mint and parsley, along with every other herb you can think of. As you can see in the picture, my mint was out of control. My four plants just kept growing and ended up looking like bushes.
I desperately tried coming up with new ways to use mint in recipes and even made homemade mint ice cream, but I couldn’t keep up with the growth and always had an abundance of mint leaves. So I did what any normal person would do and made mojitos. A lot of mojitos. I even bought a mortar and pestle for muddling mint leaves because my make-shift way was becoming a little cumbersome; while a meat tenderizer did work as a pestle, I wouldn’t recommend it. 🙂
We moved into a new place last November and no longer have a balcony off of our apartment. That means no more crazy herb gardens this summer and no more insanely large grape tomato plants. We do, however, have a window that is perfect for holding a few small plants, so I allowed myself to keep one mint plant from our CSA.
Like last year, this mint plant has been growing like crazy, so I decided to trim off a bunch of leaves and make up my first batch of mojitos for the summer. I really like this recipe because it’s not super sweet; the lime and club soda balance out the sugar and the mint flavor is great. It’s incredibly refreshing and great for a warm summer day like today!
Start by washing 10 mint leaves per drink and drying them thoroughly with a paper towel.
Slice a lime in half and then cut one half into 4 wedges.
Transfer the mint leaves to a mortar.
Squeeze the juice of 2 lime wedges onto the mint leaves, then toss in the wedges as well.
Use a pestle to combine the mint and lime, muddling the leaves briefly to start releasing all of their great mint flavor.
Add in 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, then squeeze the juice of one additional lime wedge into the mortar. Toss in the lime wedge and continue to muddle the leaves, while mixing the lime juice with the sugar. Muddle the leaves until you start to smell the mint; be careful not to over-muddle!
Fill a 16 ounce glass with ice, then pour in one shot of light rum.
Transfer the mint, lime and sugar from the mortar into the glass.
Fill the glass with club soda and stir well to combine all of the flavors. Garnish with the last lime wedge and serve!
If you’re in the mood for a fruity mojito, try adding blackberries, raspberries or strawberries to this recipe!
- 10 mint leaves, washed and dried
- 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 shot light rum
- Club soda
- Place mint leaves in a mortar. Squeeze the juice of 2 lime wedges on top of the leaves, then add the wedges to the mortar.
- Use a pestle to mix the mint and lime juice. Briefly muddle the leaves to start releasing the great mint flavor.
- Add sugar, the juice of one additional lime wedge and the wedge itself. Use the pestle to mix the sugar and lime juice. Continue muddling the mint leaves until you start to smell the mint. Be careful not to over-muddle.
- In a 16 ounce glass, add ice and one shot of light rum. Transfer the contents of the mortar to the glass. Fill the rest of the glass with club soda and stir well.
- Garnish with last lime wedge and serve.
- If you dislike having mint leaves in your drink, run it through a strainer to filter out the leaves. You'll still be able to taste the mint flavor!