Can we talk for a minute about the amazingness of tart cherries? They make the best jam, the best pie, and the best mojito variation I’ve ever sipped.
Now I know what you are thinking. “It’s months from fresh cherry season!” Too true, but thanks to the modern miracle of the deep freeze, frozen tart cherries are available year-round, and work even better than fresh cherries in an application like this, where you specifically want the cherries to break up into a wonderful, juicy pulp.
I planted a tart cherry tree two years ago, and we have so far harvested a delectable several handfuls of fruit, but the cherries I used in this cocktail came from Costco. Have you noticed that Costco now carries a huge selection of really high quality organic items? Swoon. These cherries are incredible. If you are a Costco shopper, look for them and buy a bag.
Okay, enough with my Warehouse love. Let’s get mixing.
The Tart Cherry Mint Mojito
We’re gonna start by making a juicy muddled paste of sugar, mint, tart cherries and a wedge of lime in our heavy duty glass or mason jar. Just muddle the heck out of everything until it looks like a crime scene in a glass.
Next, add in a generous dose of rum, fill your glass with ice, and top up with a splash of club soda. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a few cherries and you’re done!
Now, a word of warning. This cocktail is very, very easy to drink. Too easy to drink, probably. It’s refreshing, well balanced, and will make you feel like it’s summer even if the snow is still falling. Just, be sensible.
Make It A Mocktail
This is a drink that lends itself well to non-alcoholic adaptation. Leave out the rum and add more club soda. If you’re going non-alcoholic, consider adding a bit more sugar to your initial cherry-mint muddle.
Printable Tart Cherry Mint Mojito Recipe
Tart Cherry Mint Mojito
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 1
A refreshing, juicy mojito variation with tart cherries.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp sugar
- 6 sprig fresh mint
- 1 wedge fresh lime
- 1/4 cup pitted tart cherries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 oz. light rum
- 1/4 cup club soda
Instructions
- In a heavy duty glass or pint-sized mason jar, muddle together the sugar, mint, lime and tart cherries until the sugar is dissolved and the mint and cherries are broken up.
- Add the rum and stir.
- Fill the glass with ice, then top up with the club soda. Stir gently, then serve right away.
Courses Cocktail
Happy weekend. Let’s all raise a glass to freezers, shall we?
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This looks sooooo yummy, you have no idea!! I just had my baby two weeks ago, and I’m dying for a good cocktail after 9 months without! haha.. great post!
Anyhoo, I found your page through a Sustainable Bloggers link up, and thought I would stop by and say hi! It would totally make my day if you did the same.. or better yet, keep in touch!! <3 – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com
Congratulations, new mama! Love your URL – I’ll stop by and say hi. 🙂
Hi Gingi, Fancy seeing you here! I love both your blog and Northwest edible (but I get so hungry and thirsty when I visit this site!). Going with the non-alcoholic version of this drinks so my kids (3 and 5) and indulge too. Mother’s…. the sacrifices we are willing to make….love anything with mint in it. And cherry come to think of it.
Not an appropriate breakfast item. Not an appropriate breakfast item. Swoon.
I’ve been repeating that same mantra all morning, Kyle. Just counting the hours until it is no longer breakfast time…
LOL!
I love tart cherries and we’ve tried to grow a Montmorency tree twice. I think the gophers like it too! Planted a Lapis sweet cherry a year ago and actually got a handful of fruit last year. I’m thinking they aren’t be too sweet and I can sub them in for cherries in tart places.
We’re fogged in at the moment, but this cocktail (sans rum) looks like a winner if/when the sun comes out. Have a great weekend.
I’m growing a Surefire. So far so good, except for when my son took the tree saw to the bark of the tree. :/
I’m so sorry if this is a terribly stupid question, but does “tart” refer to the dessert or to the flavour being a bit sour? I’m from the west coast of Australia and its a bit warm to grow cherries locally so I don’t know a lot about them!
Not stupid at all. Tart refers to the type of cherries – they are more sour than the sweet kind you’d eat out of hand. Montmorency is a well known variety. I will eat tart cherries as-is, fresh off the tree, but most people prefer them sweetened in desserts, jam, or what not. They have an incredible flavor!
Mmmm. My hubby makes me blended frozen cherry margaritas in the summer. My fave drink, but yes, they can creep up on you!
Sounds delicious!
I love tart cherries SO MUCH! I found an orchard down here that sells them by the 4 gallon bucket — washed, stemmed and pitted! So spoiled! Plus, you can buy them off the line during harvest and they will leave the sugar cap off. Perfect for sour cherry jam. I typically buy one bucket with sugar (for pies and other treats) and one bucket without for jam. Of course, I have plenty in my freezer! Oh, I also put up cherries in bourbon, because, you know, bourbon…
This looks like a wonderful, dangerous recipe!
Any time someone else does the pitting, you’ve got to be thankful! And tart cherries + bourbon? I’ll be right over. 🙂
Neat recipe. I prefer tart cherries over sweet any day. To be honest, I find sweet cherries rather bland, and much prefer tart for fresh and cooked use.
I have a cherry tree on order. I think it’s a Garfield, which is a Morello type sour cherry.
One question: thoughts on using dry mint instead of fresh? Don’t have an herb area in my garden yet.
Dried mint just isn’t the same. It loses a lot of punch. In a pinch, it would be ok, but not the same. I think if I had to use dried mint, I’d make it into a simple syrup following the directions here and use the mint simple syrup instead of the raw, muddled sugar.
But seriously, no mint? It grows semi-wild around here – will some just pop up as soon as the snow melts out there?
I’ve never seen it out and about, though I haven’t been looking either. I’m totally gonna trash my garden plans after this year, instead going very much in a permaculture direction, so hardy herbs like mint totally fit in. Been wanting a lot of Middle Eastern cuisine lately, and mint is quite common in those dishes.
After I finish Mark Shepard’s book I’m going to see how much of his ideas I can fit into my current place, keeping in mind a ~5 year timeline (so basically no tall nuts)
This sounds so good! I’ve been hoarding tart dried cherries in the freezer for quite a while, and now I know what’s going to happen to at least a few of them. Just have to remember to soak them first… 🙂
I approve highly of using dried cherries in beverages. I have a jar of dried cherries soaked in bourbon and triple sec in my fridge at all time. They my go-to garnish for Manhattans, Old Fashioneds, and any drink that is typically bastardized by those horrid maraschino cherries.
I love Costco and do most of my shopping there. However, I am quite disappointed to look at bags of frozen vegetables and find them come from any number of foreign countries. Please check out country of origin and fruit and veggies as some are from far outside the US. Sadly, I am not talking about things that are obscure veggies but rather run of the mill grown in the USA items which for some reason Costco has sourced from a far greater distance.
Very interesting. I’ll have to look next time I’m there. The cherries I have do say product of the USA, but other berries might be different. I don’t think it’s Costco directly sourcing, though, unless it’s a Kirkland Sig product – I think it’s the company supplying the frozen fruit. So, in the case of these Cherries, Townsend Farms. Emailing the producer might be a good idea.
This varies by location. When I was in Wisconsin I avoided a lot of the organic frozen veggies at Costco, but now that I’m in Portland, Oregon I’m finding more veggies that were grown in Oregon or Washington state.
Personally, I’m not buying food from China. I don’t feel comfortable with it, given the history of adulterated products, from honey to dog food to baby formula.
Yes, please! I found a big, happy, ignored tart cherry tree growing in a school yard last year and nearly lost my stuffing. I got so many funny looks from passersby as I climbed up my step stool and cursed my lack of a ladder (and personal lack of height). One lady even said, “What are those?…Wow. I’ve never seen a cherry tree before.” Wait…WHAT?
I have an open jar of jam right now, and an open bottle of rum. Methinks I’ll have a fun night riffing your recipe…