Often mojito cocktail fans spare no time or energy with enthusiastically discussing how to make mojito. Simple cocktail in preparation, it is liked by many and leaves a pleasant refreshing aftertaste.
Before you make mojito at home, it might be nice to get to know its history. The birthplace of this drink is considered to be Cuba, and more specifically - the Havana restaurant “La Bodegita del Medio” in the era of dry American law.
Although at the end of the sixteenth century, Sir Richard Drake, the confidant of Sir Francis Drake, the corsair of the British Crown, invented the first version of mojito from the following components: aguardiente or tafia (a kind of cheap rum), sugar, lime and mint.
Alcohol gave warmth to the body, lime containing vitamin C contributed to the prevention of scurvy, mint refreshed, and sugar softened the sharp and not very pleasant taste. Despite the fact that the drink was not called mojito, the recipe for preparation consisted of an original combination of precisely these ingredients.
It should be noted that the mint that was used for the cocktail is Buena (“good grass”) derby, which grows in the wild in the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere. In Cuba, where Buena's hedgehog grows spontaneously, like a weed, it is known as cop nemorosa, big apple mint or just Cuban mint.
From the second half of the nineteenth century, when they began to produce refined and refined rum, he replaced tafia. A cocktail prepared in a similar way became known as Dracesito or El Drake, in honor of the alleged creator.
According to another version, which has many supporters, slaves brought from Africa who worked on sugar cane plantations in Cuba also knew how to make mojito. Sugarcane juice (guarapo), often used in mojito recipes, was a popular drink among slaves.
As for the etymology of the name, then in this case more than one option is considered. One claims that mojito is a derivative of moss, a Cuban sauce made from olive oil, garlic, pepper, cumin and flavored with lime (or lemon). Another version is that mojito is a derivative of "mohadito", the diminutive form of the word mohado (wet). By the way, mohado and mohadito have other meanings. Mojado can be translated as despised, while mohadito in the United States is called illegal immigrants from Mexico who crossed the Rio Grande.
The latter hypothesis, more intriguing and undoubtedly worthy of attention, states that "moho" in the context of Voodoo means "magic."
But back to Cuba, in the Havana restaurant La Bodegita del Media. Attilio De La Fuente told the world how to make mojito in the modern version; his name is inscribed in the history of the cocktail in “golden letters”. They say that he loved his work so much that he never got tired of improvising, coming up with new cocktail combinations.
Mojito performed by Attilio De La Fuente presented a wonderful drink made from the leaves of the henna buena, white rum, white cane sugar, lime juice and sparkling water. Chilled mojito, as is customary to serve it, has a special taste due to the fresh aroma of mint and the mild taste of good rum. It should be borne in mind that the mint in the cocktail should be ripe, then it is less stiff and not bitter.
He popularized the Cuban mojito, and with it the La Bodegita del Medio restaurant, the American writer Ernest Hemingway, in which he was a regular customer. On the wall in the restaurant there is an inscription made by Hemingway and framed in the frame: “My mojito is in La Bodegita. My Daiquiri in El Florida. "
And finally, how to cook mojito at home. To do this, you will need the following ingredients: sugar (to taste, but on average one scoop), lime fruit juice, fresh mint leaves, 50 milliliters of white rum, sparkling water and ice.
In a cocktail glass you need to put sugar and mint. Let it brew, squeezing a little mint, but trying not to break the leaves. Then add lime fruit juice, more mint leaves and ice. Mix rum and sparkling water to taste, adding to the cooked ingredients. Garnish the cocktail with figuratively carved lime peel and mint leaves.