Yuzu and Cayenne Mojito

Surprise recipe! I didn't intend to post this (or anything) today, but I was so shocked by how tasty this was that I just can't help myself. Some of the ingredients here are a bit niche, so I have provided some suitable substitutes for those who want to give this a try, but might not have access to random Asian fruits.

This recipe makes one drink, but it's so super easy to prep and scale up, you should have no problem making more!

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Ingredients

• 1 lime

• 1/2 a yuzu+

• 8-10 fresh mint leaves++, plus a sprig for garnish if you're feeling fancy

• 1.5 oz rum+++

• 2 oz sparkling water

• 1 tsp mint simple syrup (or any liquid sweetener of your choice - doesn't even need to be mint)

• Cayenne pepper to taste

• Ice

Instructions

• Start by rolling the lime under your palm on a hard surface. A table, countertop, or whatever will do. Roll it back and forth a few times to get the juices really flowing, then cut it in half and juice the whole thing directly into the serving glass. Repeat with the yuzu, but only juice half.

• Smack the mint between your hands. This squishes them a bit and gets the good, minty parts to start oozing out a little extra for some additional kick. Drop the mint leaves into the juices. Be sure you're not dropping the whole stem in - you don't want the woody parts to get in the way. Muddle to your liking.

• Add in the rum, sparkling water, and simple syrup. Stir a couple of times to mix.

• Sprinkle in a little bit of cayenne pepper (or a lot if you're looking for more of a kick)

• Drop in the ice, garnish with a sprig of mint, and enjoy!

Notes

+ Yuzu (aka Japanese lemon) is a fairly common ingredient in a lot of different Asian cuisines. If you've ever had ponzu sauce, you've had yuzu. Yuzu has a tart, sour flavor sort of like a mix between a lemon and a mandarin orange, but with some umami-like undertones. In fact, the fruit is thought to be a hybrid between mandarin oranges and ichang papeda (another citrus fruit). If you can't find the fruit itself, you have a couple of different options here...

1. Yuzu juice can be found in some health food or Asian-specialty markets. It can be kinda pricy sometimes, but if you do a lot of this cooking, it may be a worthy investment.

2. Got a Myer lemon on hand? That will work just fine! The same way yuzu is a mix between other fruits, Myer lemons are hybrids of regular lemons and mandarin oranges. You'll get a lot of the same notes.

3. None of these work or you just don't want to take the time? Fair enough! Try mixing a quarter lime's juice yield with a quarter lemon's juice yield and you'll get a lot of the same flavor.

4. Another option is a quarter lime's juice yield with a splash of orange juice.

None of these will be exact, but you'll get the basic profile.

++ I used peppermint, but really any mint will do

+++You can sub any other kind of liquid sweetener of your choice here, and it doesn't necessarily have to be mint flavored/infused. Simple syrup is crazy easy to make (recipe coming eventually) and I encourage you to try making and flavoring your own at some point, but it is absolutely not necessary for this cocktail.