Tasty Tuesday - Mojitos by the Pitcher

I planted mint in our garden this year for just this purpose, and so this past Memorial Day weekend we made quite a few of these…


Mojitos by the Pitcher

3/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup simple syrup (see recipe below)
1 1/2 cups rum
3 cups club soda
ice

Instructions:

Place mint leaves in the bottom of your pitcher. Fill bottom ¼ to 1/3 of the pitcher with ice. Use a wooden spoon to mash up or “muddle” the mint leaves with the ice. Use a mortar and pestle to mash up or "muddle" the mint leaves.

Add the remaining ingredients. I suggest adding about 2/3 cup of the simple syrup at first and tasting, and then adding more to your taste. Fill the remainder of the pitcher with ice. Stir well and serve on the rocks.

(To try and cut back on the sugar, I also tried using Dt. Sprite and cutting back on the simple syrup… while this worked and the results were tasty, they were more like spiked lemonade than a mojito.)

Simple Syrup Recipe:

2 parts sugar
1 part water

Instructions:
Bring the water to a boil.
Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly.
Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove the pan from the heat. (Note: Do not allow the syrup to boil for too long or the syrup will be too thick.)
Allow to cool completely and thicken, then store in a clean dry container. Will keep in the refrigerator for practically forever.