So glad you asked this, as I hear it all the time. The best way to find out for yourself? Take a stalk and pop it in your mouth. Chew it up, even. Does it taste that bitter to you? Nah, me neither.

What gives mint and other plants bitterness is chlorophyll. It’s what makes plants green and what lets them make energy from sunlight. Mint leaves have a lot of chlorophyll. The stalks not so much. Which is why I recommend that you muddle those leaves very gently, so as to express the mint oils and not crush the cell walls that will release all that bitter chlorophyll into the drink.

And before anyone freaks out, I am aware that chlorophyll isn’t the only thing that can make a plant taste bitter.

But the reason why I remove the leaves from the stems is aesthetics: mojitos just look a lot prettier without the stem. But that’s up to you.

Jeff

it tasted great, (at least to me) loved the taste of brown sugar, which, i feel, is more flavourful and not as sweet as the white kind. and so ive been searching for a recipe which uses Muscovado but since i cant seem to find it anywhere i was wondering if its a taboo? but youre allowed to customise cocktails right? any ideas for recipes?
oh, and the drink i was served wasnt brown as ive seen from the recipes i could find. it was clear(=white rum?) with bits of Muscovado floating about.
back to what i wanted to ask:
how do you guys feel about brown sugar instead of white?

I just made mojitos for a crowd by mass-producing the ingredients. I picked and washed two dozen sprigs of mint, cooked up and cooled a batch of simple syrup and cut and squeezed a dozen limes. To the assembly line I added a two-ounce jigger and a Pyrex measuring cup, with rum and sparkling water at the ready in the fridge.

Then I set up a dozen tall glasses with mint and syrup muddled together and a lime hull perched over all.

When the party started, it was easy to go down the line, measure an ounce of the fresh lime juice, two jiggers of rum and four ounces of sparkling water into each, add ice and straws and serve! I was pleased not to spend all night in the kitchen mixing drinks, and my guests were happy.

Leave the mint on the stems. Don’t use a blender or your guests will be picking mint fragments out of their teeth all night long.

I’m going to ask again though, because it is hard to host a party and serve mojitos, how can they be made in pitcher-sized servings? Can you use a blender? anything to mass produce these delicious drinks for my guests!

Okay, I don’t think that muddling the limes is the sign of an amateur bartender. But I prefer to squeeze the limes by hand, with my fingertips, in order to measure the exact amount of juice and prevent the bitter oils from imparting an unnecessary aftertaste to the drink.

But if you prefer to muddle, then by all means, mash away!

so if you want an end to the blockade dont give money to the bacardi family to give to politicians who vote for it and go to cuba, i studied there in teh spring…go to the city of cienfuegos and go to the park on the point at the end of town and get a mojito at the bar there, the guy spends like 10 min making each one

We ran out of sparkling water in the first party. Fortunately, I thought fast. I used Ginger Ale in one guest’s Mojito and he loved it even more. Since then I always have it on hand and give the guest a choice.

Another tip, experiment by adding a fresh fruit to muddle with the mint. Delicious! I like it best with raspberries, Michelle prefers strawberries.

:)
mk

Thanks!