[2] Every Mojito requires lots of fresh mint (photo © Indian Home Cooking).

Mojito fans: Nielsen-Massey has tailored the classic recipe for Valentine’s Day, using their vanilla extract and rosewater.

If your Valentine plans are already set, put this on the calendar for Mother’s Day.
 
 
RECIPE: STRAWBERRY-ROSE MOJITO
 
Ingredients For The Strawberry-Rose Syrup (Yield: 1 Cup)

Not all flavored cocktail syrups are simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water). Here’s a syrup made This recipe from Nielsen-Massey makes enough syrup for four Strawberry-Rose Mojitos.

 
Ingredients For The Mojito (Per Drink)

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the syrup. Add the ingredients to a small food processor and pulse until smooth; set aside.

2. MUDDLE the mint leaves in a tall glass. Add the syrup, rum, lime juice and lots of ice.

3. TOP with club soda and a freshly squeezed lime wedge; stir.

4. NOTCH the strawberry, place it on the rim of the glass and serve.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. ADD the syrup, lime juice and mint leaves to a pitcher and muddle together.

2. ADD the rum, club soda and ice; stir to combine.
 
 
MOJITO HISTORY

The mojito (mo-HEE-toe) is a quintessential Cuban cocktail. The name derives from the African voodoo term mojo, to cast a small spell.

According to Bacardi Rum, the drink can be traced to 1586, when Sir Francis Drake and his pirates unsuccessfully attempted to sack Havana for its gold.

His associate, Richard Drake (a distant relative), was said to have invented a Mojito-like cocktail known as El Draque (Drake’s pirate nickname) that was made with aguardiente, a crude forerunner of rum; plus sugar, lime and mint.

Around the mid-1800s, when the Bacardi Company was established, rum was substituted and the cocktail became known as a Mojito. Here’s the original Mojito recipe.

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*Nielsen Massey uses its Tahitian vanilla extra. Here are the different types of vanilla.