Serve Your Mojitos In A Pitcher And Avoid This Tedious Step

The classic mojito is undeniably one of the quintessential summer cocktails. Unapologetically minty, tangy, and sweet, the balanced Cuban cocktail made with club soda, mint, lime juice, sugar, and rum has been providing cocktail lovers with a cool, crisp flavor profile for at least four centuries. In fact, if there's a complaint about the mojito, it's that muddling the mint for the drink — which is required by most mojito recipes — can be tedious, especially when making mojitos for a crowd. But what if there was a shortcut to making a large crowd-friendly pitcher of that refreshing summer drink without your hand going limp from muddling fresh mint leaves for drink after drink? There is, using mint simple syrup.

Adding mint syrup to your pitcher of mojitos not only eliminates the extra labor and tools, but it also prevents that slight bitterness extracted by over-muddling the mint leaves. And, since the sugar granules are dissolved into the syrup, it adds a smoothness to the overall texture of your mojito recipe.  Of course, you can — and should — still add a few mint leaves to your pitcher as garnish. You'll have a refreshing beverage with the same summery visual appeal, but much less stress. 

The good news is that making homemade mint syrup is relatively quick and simple — but you'll want to be sure to use fresh mint leaves to do so, as it has a much stronger flavor than dried mint. And as for whether to use spearmint or peppermint, it's important to note that while both varieties are readily accessible in grocery stores, you'll want to go with the more commonly found spearmint for your mojito. Spearmint has pointier leaves and offers a sweeter flavor than the stronger variety which contains more menthol (about 40%), giving it a toothpaste-like taste you probably don't want to drink. 

Once you've procured the right mint, you'll prepare a basic simple syrup as usual, adding your mint leaves just after your sugar is dissolved. You can feel free to tear your leaves into pieces when adding, but you'll definitely want to be sure to leave those stems on, as they will offer a brighter flavor to your syrup. Additionally, for the strongest mint flavor, leave your mint leaves in the syrup while cooling, then pour your syrup through a strainer to remove them. And voila, you've got a large batch mojito-ready mint syrup to add to your lime juice and rum, which you can use immediately or store in your refrigerator for two weeks to a month.  A tip for the wise: Keep your syrup sealed in an airtight glass jar to increase longevity.

If making a mint syrup for your large-batch mojitos really isn't your preference, don't fret. The good news is there is an effective method of making them with actual mint leaves without exhausting yourself by muddling your ingredients for each individual drink. The even better news is that this step is made easy with an unexpected kitchen tool you probably already have: A stand mixer. You'll simply need to beat your leaves, sugar, and lime juice in the bowl of your mixer on low speed until the sugar has dissolved. Then you can feel free to add the mixture to your pitcher, along with your rum and club soda. But be sure you like little bits of mint — this version of a mojito is likely to have more small bits than when muddling traditionally. 

Of course, you can also go old-school and muddle all of your mint by hand in one big batch. To do so, you'll want to multiply the amount of mint you use for the number of servings – about 36 mint leaves or so for a standard size pitcher. Then you'll muddle it all at once with your other ingredients, and pour your mojitos from the pitcher, and you'll still have a shortcut worth remembering for your next party. Cheers.