The Blueberry Mojito: A Twist on the Classic Mojito for National Mojito Day

The classic mojito is a classic cocktail, and the addition of fresh blueberries turns it into a fresh, fruity blueberry mojito that your guests will love.

Many people love a mojito, but I’ve never been a huge fan. The mint, on its own, just isn’t a flavour that appeals to me. I’ve been looking for a way to improve on this classic cocktail and the addition of blueberries seems like just the trick.

A Bit About the Mojito

The mojito is a punch made from white rum, lime, sugar (or simple syrup) and soda water, and was originally created in Havana, Cuba. The drink is made by muddling the lime juice, sugar, and mint leaves in a glass. The mixture should be muddled gently, bruising the mint leaves to release the fragrant mint oils. You do not want to have shredded, mushy mint leaves floating in your glass. Add rum and stir to help dissolve the sugar, followed by ice and soda water. Finally, the drink is garnished with fresh mint leaves and a lime wedge.

The mojito is listed in the Contemporary Classic section of the International Bartenders Association (IBA) list of official cocktails.

The IBA recipe includes:

• 45 ml white rum
• 20 ml fresh lime juice
• 6 sprigs of mint
• 2 teaspoons white cane sugar (or 2 cl of sugar syrup)
• soda water

Let’s Celebrate National Mojito Day

It’s National Mojito Day 2024, so this is the perfect time to make my Blueberry mojito. It’s made the same way as a regular mojito, but with the addition of blueberries, and, since I love lime in a cocktail (who doesn’t) and I’m not a huge fan of mint, more lime and less mint.

Blueberry Mojito Ingredients

White Rum: Rum originated in the Caribbean and is made by fermenting molasses, or sugar cane juice. Rum comes in many different grades such as dark, golden, and white. White rum is what we’ll be using here because we want a light, clear cocktail. Substituting a dark or golden rum will not give you the desired result, so stick to white rum.

Blueberries: This is what sets this mojito recipe apart. Be sure to use fresh, ripe fruit. We’ll be muddling some of the blueberries in the glass with the mint and lime juice, as well as adding some whole berries to the glass along with some fresh mint sprigs to create a great presentation.

Mint: Fresh mint leaves are an essential ingredient in this cocktail and are what distinguishes the mojito from other cocktails. We grow mint in our garden so we always have it available for cocktails and cooking.

Lime juice: Squeeze fresh limes for this. I would not recommend bottled lime juice. Bottled juice does not taste nearly as good as fresh limes so it’s worth the extra couple of minutes to cut and squeeze fresh limes. Besides, you’ll need lime wedges anyway, so you might as well use fresh lime juice.

White sugar: Adds just the right amount of sweetness. You can adjust the quantity to your taste, or substitute simple syrup, or artificial sweetener if you prefer.

Sparkling water: Just a splash is all it takes. Too much will water the cocktail down, which is not what you want, unless that is what you want, in which case add as much sparkling water as you like. I’m using sparkling water, because that’s what I have in the house, but the official recipe uses soda water. You can substitute with seltzer as well if that’s what you have available.

Crushed ice: I find crushed ice works a little better than ice cubes in this cocktail because it allows the blueberries to mix evenly in the drink, and I think it looks better than large ice cubes.

The recipe below is for 2 cocktails.