Chill out, honey….

Now that summer is truly upon us, it’s time to start enjoying those beach picnics and barbecues. And what better thing to top them off than a zesty, fresh summer cocktail. Honey, lime and mint mojitos are refreshing,naturally sweetened cocktails that are easy to prepare and perfect for summer. We use honey instead of sugar to make a mint-infused lime and honey syrup. The key is good-quality honey and it doesn’t get much better than Manuka Corner raw honey

Apart from being lower on the glycemic index than traditional sugar syrups, honey syrups require little preparation, store well and they mix into your cocktail so nicely. Honey has a delightful taste that adds another taste level to your summer cocktail. And with raw manuka honey going in to it, you can almost drink guilt free.

Mojitos

Mojitos are one of the most popular rum drinks out there. A traditional mojito is made with fresh lime juice, mint, white rum, soda water, and simple syrup. A virgin mojito, one without alcohol, has soda water, lime, mint and our mint, lime honey syrup.

This recipe below is a classic mojito recipe, but with a mint, lime, honey syrup.

Mint, lime, honey syrup

The secret to your cocktail success is this honey syrup.

The honey syrup is easy-peasy lime squeezy. It takes four ingredients and 5 minutes. I prefer to use lot of mint with the honey and lime juice so that I end up with a nice minty drink. You can of course use fewer leaves if you prefer a mojito that doesn’t taste quite so minty.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 cup honey
• 10 large fresh mint leaves.

This makes well over a cup of syrup and will last you quite a few mojitos. If you’re having a few people for dinner and drinks, I would certainly double or triple the recipe to make sure you have enough.

Instructions

1. Heat all of the ingredients for the honey syrup in a saucepan. Smash the mint with a spoon against the side of the pot to release the oils.
2. Bring to a simmer and then continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and let stand until cooled to room temperature: this allows for optimal flavour infusion. Strain the mint leaves through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate the syrup in a sealed jar until ready to use. Then you have a jar of mint lie honey syrup in the fridge should you need to make more mojitos.

On to the drink ……

This cocktail has slightly fewer mint leaves than usual because of the honey syrup, but you can obviously adjust to taste.

Prepare the honey mojitos:

To make one cocktail.

Ingredients

• 7 – 8 leaves of fresh mint
• 1/2 lime cut into 4-5 wedges
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of mint honey syrup (or to taste)
• 7 – 8 large ice cubes
• 1 1/2 fluid ounces white rum (about 2.5 tablespoons or 50 mls)
• 1/2 cup soda water
• large cocktail glass

Instructions

1. Place around 5 mint leaves and 2 lime wedges into a sturdy glass. Crush the mint and lime with the back of a spoon to release the mint oils and lime juice. Add another lime wedge and the honey syrup and pound again to release the lime juice.
2. Fill the glass almost to the top with ice. Pour the rum over the ice. Fill the glass with soda water.
3. Stir, taste, and add more honey syrup if needed. Garnish with another lime wedge.

You can either make the honey mojitos in a large batch to serve many at once, or you can make individual mojitos.

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Check out our raw NZ honey. It’s lovely, pure honey!