mint: I hate to see you go!

We started growing mint in our backyard years before the mojito craze began.  Each year, it doubles in size and I am usually left saying to myself, “what do I do with all of this mint?!?”

As it turns out, pick chick just love mojitos!  And nothing is better than making them at home.  Luckily I came across a great little recipe from Marissa at Food in Jars, a wonderful blog that I am totally obsessed with.  Marissa is a pioneer in the home preserving movement and I totally dig her recipes and how-to’s that have helped me throughout the summer.  I would have to say that she is one of my inspirations for this year’s canning craze that attacked my kitchen!

So last night I came across her recipe for Mint Simple Syrup and I had an “ah ha” moment!  That is how I will preserve my mint this season!   Out to the mint field I went and picked some lovely leaves.

I whipped up a batch, it was super simple: 2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar and a bundle of mint that I washed to remove any dirt.  I used about 12-14 stems with their leaves on them.  See Marissa’s recipe for full details.  The final product was delish all on its own!

But the true test was, how did it taste in a mojito?  For the mojito, I did the following:

fresh mint mojito

ingredients:

1/4 of a lime muddled with 4 mint leaves
6 ice cubes
1 tablespoon of the mint simple syrup
2 oz. of White Rum
3-4 oz. of club soda

instructions:

In a large glass, muddle the lime with the mint leaves.  If the season is over and you have no mint, just mash up the lime to release it’s juices.  Add the ice, the mint simple syrup, the rum, the club soda.  Mix well and serve.  Sprig of mint and slice of lime on top is optional for a nice presentation.  For myself at home, no fancy stuff needed.

Wow! That is all I can say about this mint mojito!  It is super fresh and super minty with the mint-infused simple syrup.  It definitely kicks it up a notch and is a great way to preserve the mint before the chill gets to it! Yummy!

worth the pick?

pick chick says: This was ridiculously good and I don’t think I will make another mojito without it!

pick dude says: I am not a fan of the mojito, beers are my thing, but it did taste very good for the sip that pick chick made me take!