Unless you?ve been hiding in a closet for the past year, you are familiar with the cultural revolution going on in the nightclubs and bars, where people dance to Salsa while drinking mojitos.

The MOJITO (pronounced moe ? hee ? toe), in case you have been wondering, is the national drink of Cuba. It is as enjoyable as a summer vacation on the beach. It is made by combining mint (called hierba buena or good herb in its country of origin) with sugar syrup, lime juice, rum and club soda.

The word mojo means assemble or mixture and that is exactly what this cocktail is ? an enjoyable and harmonious mixture of aromatic and tasteful ingredients.

The original Mojito

Ingredients

1.5 oz Bacardi Carta Blanca (light-dry) rum, 12 mint leaves, half a lime, 2 dashes Bitters (optional), syrup

Method

In a Collins glass, place 12 mint leaves and the lime. Crush well. Add 2 dashes Bitters (optional), cover lime with simple syrup (or add 4 tsp sugar) and fill the glass with ice. Add the Bacardi, top off with club soda, stir well and garnish with sprigs of mint or a lime wheel.

The improvised Park Mojito

Ingredients

Crushed ice, half quarters of lime, large mint leaves, Bacardi 60 ml, sugar syrup 15 ml, freshly squeezed lime juice 10 ml

Mise-en-place (enough for 10 Mojitos):

Half fill a jug with freshly squeezed lime juice. Take 10 limes, cut each into quarters. Cut each quarter into two halves. Drop these pieces in the jug with the lime juice and keep for at least an hour. Pluck fresh, large mint leaves (keep at least 50 g of leaves ready). Prepare 200 ml fresh sugar syrup, cool in a refrigerator and keep ready.

Method

Put 8-10 mint leaves in a shaker. Add 10 ml fresh lime juice from the jug, 2-3 half quarters of lime and 15 ml of sugar syrup. Muddle all the ingredients well with a wooden muddler for about 20 seconds. Do not make a paste ? just ensure all the ingredients are mixed well and the mint leaves are bruised and crushed. Pour the mixture into an old-fashioned glass. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Pour 60 ml of rum over the crushed ice. Stir well with a stirrer. Drop one lime quarter on top for garnish. Serve with stirrer.