Raspberry mojito

Ahhh those long, lazy days of summer, relaxing in the evenings on a freshly cut lawn after a long day at work, with the aroma of burgers sizzling away on the barbecue and the sound of ice clinking on the side of your glass. Is there anything more simply satisfying?

For me those magical evenings just wouldn’t be complete without a cocktail – be it a simple gin and tonic or something a little more sophisticated like a frothy whisky sour. A cocktail always brings a little more fun to the proceedings. I also love that so many cocktails have a history to them or have been invented by a certain famous person for a special reason.

My raspberry mojito puts a fun little British Summer twist on this classic Latin American favourite. The recipe list may seem a tad complicated but actually the cocktail is really easy to make. Believe me, it’s well worth the effort. The moment you try this, you won’t regret it!

You will need what is commonly known as a ‘highball’ glass for this, which is simply any tall glass. The current trend for serving cocktails in jam jars would also work perfectly for this. The mojito calls for crushed ice, which you can make very easily from ice cubes in a blender but many supermarkets now sell bags of crushed ice, so there really are no excuses.

METHOD
Place the sugar and limes in the glass and muddle using a muddler, or the end of a rolling pin. Make sure you really squeeze the juice out of the limes, allowing the sugar and lime to mingle.

Add the rum, the raspberries and if using add the framboise and stir.

Next add the whole leaves of mint to the glass and very lightly muddle again, being careful not to break the leaves as this releases chlorophyll, making the drink taste bitter.

Half-fill the glass with crushed ice, stirring the ingredients up through the ice to blend together. Then fill the rest of the glass with crushed ice, pushing the ice down into the glass. Place a napkin or tea towel over the top and stir the drink again, twisting the spoon and bringing the spoon up the glass as you twist – a long bar spoon would do this well but a teaspoon or skewer would work too.

Top with a dash of soda water, garnish and serve.

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