Mojito garnish: mint, lime, and the sugar rim nobody expects
A mojito is a mint drink, so the mint is not optional and it is usually the part that goes wrong.
Do not chop the mint
The most common mistake is tearing or chopping mint into the glass. Bruised mint releases chlorophyll, which tastes green and bitter, and you end up chewing leaf fragments through a straw.
What you want is the oil, not the leaf. Muddle the mint gently against the sugar and lime at the bottom of the glass, pressing rather than grinding. Three or four presses is enough.
Then for the garnish, take a whole sprig, lay it flat on one palm and give it one firm slap with the other hand. That ruptures the oil glands on the surface without damaging the leaf. Stick it in the glass so it sits near the top, where your nose is. You will smell it on every sip, which is the entire point.
A sprig buried under the ice is doing nothing.
The lime
You have already squeezed fresh lime into the drink, so the garnish is for looks and aroma rather than more juice. A dried lime wheel tucked against the inside of the glass gives you a clean line of colour against the mint, and it will still look right at the bottom of a tall drink twenty minutes later.
A fresh wedge in a mojito goes soggy fast. It is sitting in cold liquid and crushed mint the whole time.
The rim, which is where it gets good
A mojito is not usually rimmed, and that is exactly why it works. A sweet rim on a sharp, minty drink gives you a hit of sugar before the lime lands, and it changes the first mouthful completely.
Our Strawberry Mint Mojito Rim Dust was made for this drink. Strawberry and mint is a pairing that belongs together, and the sugar rounds off the citrus edge.
To rim it so it holds, run a lime wedge around the outside edge only, roll the glass sideways through a shallow dish, then stand it up for a minute before you build the drink. Wetting the inside is what sends sugar into the glass.
The recipe
Ingredients (per serve)
- 60ml white rum
- 25ml fresh lime juice
- 15ml sugar syrup
- 8 to 10 mint leaves, plus a sprig to garnish
- Soda water
- F N Lemons Strawberry Mint Mojito Rim Dust and a dried lime slice
Method
- Rim the outside of a tall glass with the strawberry mint sugar and set it aside.
- Muddle the mint leaves gently with the lime juice and sugar syrup in the bottom of the glass.
- Add the rum, fill with crushed ice and stir to combine.
- Top with soda water. Slap a mint sprig and sit it at the top, and tuck a dried lime wheel down the side.
Not sure how to make sugar syrup? It takes three minutes.
Everything we make is handcrafted in small batches here in the Waikato. Browse the rim dusts, with free shipping on orders over $100.