August 4, 2020 • 38 mins
For a simple mix of rum, mint, lime, and sugar, this cocktail has inspired a complex blend of love and hate. Anney and Lauren dip into the uncertain history and contentious culture of the mojito.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to Sabor Production off I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about the Mohito. Yes, another cocktail hour. It has
been um. Oh, but what a delightful cocktail hour to
come back with. Yes, yes, um. And So I I
(00:30):
went through a huge, huge Mohedo phase in college, which
I now have realized probably earned me a lot of enemies. Um,
we'll talk about that more later. And it felt like
such a step up in my college mind because I
kind of started with like screwdrivers and mud slides. Order. Yeah, yeah,
the mud slide was definitely a staple of mine for
(00:53):
a while there. Yeah, and I also did white Russians.
I did White Russians, which is close to the mud slide,
right right. But then then I figured out my mint problem.
My issue with meant and no more. Oh right, yeah,
I see I Okay. I I feel like we could
(01:13):
workshop this and find something mint esque that doesn't bother you.
And you know, I bet if we could do such
a thing, a lot of bartenders would be very grateful
for it. Well, if you're asking them to make the
same drink with just a different herb. I don't think
that they would be particularly but at least it wouldn't
(01:37):
it wouldn't be another heck in Mohito. So I don't know,
um shrug. I also went through a mohito phase, um,
a little bit after I was in college, like like
like we're probably talking about around the same time frame
when they were just very popular here in the United States. Uh.
(01:59):
There was at least one restaurant that, for no reason
that I can particularly remember. I think it was like
an Asian themed restaurant, but they specialized in mohitos, and
I felt so bad for the bartenders there every day
because it would just be like thirty mohedos coming up. Um. Uh.
(02:23):
But no, they're They're delightful. I remember, I think I was.
I was at the club, I was in the club scene. No, Sharon,
I was. I was that person that got the mohedo.
But it was definitely not like somebody suggested it to me,
because I don't think I would have ordered it. I
don't think it was in my on my radar until
(02:44):
someone was like, you've got to try yes. Um. And
just reminder, we have done episodes online rum Agrical, Mint
and Sugar all important to this topic we're discussing, Um,
we do need to do an episode still on RUM
in general or like I don't know, twenty episodes like
(03:06):
like like whatever whatever format we think that we can
work that in on. And also when I was checking
to make super sure because I have no idea what
topics we've covered in the past, um that we had
not done one on ROUM in general. Yeah, like we've
done a lot of episodes, like we we just flew
right by the three mark at some point, and I like,
(03:27):
in in just totally unbeknownst to us, we need to
go back and we need to do a retroactive three
d oh. Yeah, okay, I'll see. My mind is blank.
So that's great. I'm glad that one of us is
working on it. Okay, I will. We'll have a big
(03:49):
favor celebration retroactively definitely. Speaking of celebrations, July eleven is
National Mohito Day here in the US. Um just missed it,
I guess, but but I guess. You know, really any
day can be a Mohito day if you, if you,
if you so choose, absolutely, and what is time anymore anyway? Exactly? Also,
(04:14):
speaking of I suppose drink responsibly. Drink responsibly, Yes, absolutely, yes,
But okay, let's get to our question, the mohito. What
is it? Well, the mohito is a high ball cocktail
featuring white rum, fresh mint, lime, and sugar diluted with
(04:37):
crushed ice and soda water into a refreshing kind of
smooth tasting drink. And let's let's break that all down
just a little bit. So, a high ball is a
type of drink with a more not alcohol than alcohol proportionately. Um.
The alcohol here in question is a white Cuban style rum,
also called light rum or sometimes silver rum. It's the
(04:57):
clear kind um and all right. Rum is a is
a liquor distilled from molasses, which is a product or
byproduct traditionally of refining sugarcane into granulated sugar. And white
rum is aged a couple of years in wood barrels,
but not long enough to pick up the deeper colors
or flavors of some other RUMs. So the mohito is
(05:21):
is a pretty simple cocktail. Um, not a whole lot
of ingredients. Um, but they require a lot of care
to make well. Um Like it's important to crush the
mint enough to release flavor. But you don't want like
a glassful of mint pulp that's all like bitter and
and leafy. You don't want to drink a salad. The
sugar and the and the acid from the lime should
(05:43):
be in balance. And the delicate and lightly sweet and
kind of like caramel, fruity, grassy flavor of the rum
shouldn't be totally overwhelmed by any of these kind of
overwhelming ingredients. Um. And there is disagreement over how to
do this correctly. Oh yeah, um, you you can find
(06:08):
a bunch of strongly worded recipes on the internet. Um.
But but I think that basically we can all agree
that that your your first step in making a mohito
is going to be to put your mint and like
just a little sugar, like like a teaspoon of sugar,
maybe in the bottom of the tall glass that you
will be serving said mohito in um. Spearmint is the
(06:31):
traditional type of mint, which I did not know and
find fascinating. Some people recommend that the sugar be simple
syrup instead of granulated sugar. Um. Uh. Simple syrup being
sugar that is dissolved into water in a one to
one ratio. The granulated sugar can can help break down
the mint leaves a little bit. The simple syrup is
gonna mix better into the drink. Again, I am not
(06:53):
stating a personal preference. I'm giving you the facts. Very
diplomatic of you, Thank you. I'm trying. I'm concerned. UM.
I will say white sugar is generally preferred either way, um,
because it's like a cleaner flavor and lets the flavor
(07:14):
of the realm come through better. UM. So okay, yeah, yeah.
You get your mint in your sugar in the glass,
and then you gently smoosh the mint with a with
a muddle um or the back of a spoon. And
what you're not looking to do here is grind. Do
not grind that mint, because most of the desirable flavors
in mint are right on the surface of the leaves um,
(07:34):
caught up in those little tiny hairs that mint leaves
have that give them just a little bit of a fuzz,
you know. Um. And so you're just trying to get
those those oils to release. You're not trying to mush
the leaves. Yams is a good technical term. I am
full of nothing but science words. This is true. I'm
(07:59):
totally on board. Um uh so so next, you're gonna
fill the glass with crushed ice, then add lime juice
and rum and stir um. Top that with more ice
if needed, uh, fill with soda, and then garnish with
a sprig of mint, plus a lime piece or twist
or spent lime half. A chunk of sugar cane is
(08:19):
sometimes included in there, as well as a garnish um,
and then you serve um. Some folks do add the
lime juice during the muddling step, especially if you're using
granulated sugar. I think to help dissolve the sugar a
little bit before you get the ice involved. I personally
like it when there's a little bit of sugar granulation
in the bottom of the drink. Again again I I
(08:42):
don't don't come for me, No, no stance is being
taken here, just explaining of facts, yeah, yeah, and and
expressing perhaps a personal preference yes, yes, which we're all
allowed to have, yes, hype of Aradically, the Internet sometimes
tells us otherwise. Um. But so that the result is
(09:10):
gonna be just just on the side of sweet um,
with brightness from the lime and this cool hit of
mint and very simpable um. The ice melts relatively quickly
blending the drink and giving you a slightly different experience
as you sip aht someone so badly. I know, all right,
(09:34):
Well what about the nutrition again, drink responsibly. Um. And
this one depends on how the drink is made. It
can have like quite a lot of sugar in it,
so um, watch watch out for that. But you know, treats,
treats are nice, Yes, they absolutely are. UM and it
seems that people do like this treat because we do
(09:55):
have some numbers for you. The drink is popular all over.
It also enjoys a fair amount of hate, which we're
gonna be touching them throughout this episode. It is perhaps
most popular in Cuba, It's motherland. Wayne Curtis, author of
and a Bottle of Rum, believes that if you walk
into pretty much any old Havana bar and hold up
(10:17):
two fingers towards the bartender, you'll probably get to Mohito's
in return. Yeah. According to Mental Floss, Google trends data
suggested is the most googled cocktail in Poland, and a
consultancy firm found that it was the most popular cocktail
in the UK. And I believe also in France it
(10:38):
was up there at least. Yeah, yeah, but but hey
about that hate. H It is almost always number one
on lists of bartenders most hated drinks. Oh yes, and
that's because it is so fussy to to make. I
would just say, I'm not going to tell you not
to order one in a bar, um, but like, read
(11:00):
a room before you order a mohito. Um. Like, if
you're not at a bar that generally makes fussy cocktails,
or even if you are, but like the bar is slammed,
consider a different drink. Um Like, if nothing else, a
different drink would get to you faster and you'll be
less likely to be disappointed with the results. I'd say,
(11:21):
I think that's good advice. And again we'll be touching
on this throughout, but I wanted to include this quote here.
According to Willie Melendez, who was then the bartender over
at Philadelphia's Almonte Cuba, which this when he said this,
people butcher the mohedo on purpose. I've seen people pour
(11:42):
nothing but hatred into the shaker tin and what you
put in combs out so but hatred. Yep, here's your
hatred mohito. Enjoy I've had one of those. Yeah, believe
I have to um, yeah, it's it's a fussy enough
(12:04):
drink that that there's a whole market of mixes out
there for home bars and also places that maybe don't
stock fresh herbs or just don't want to be buggered
about it. Um uh. You know mixes from just like
mint syrup that's meant to be diluted all the way
up to and including like mint and lime and sugar
mixes that you just kind of add ice and rum too. Yeah.
(12:26):
And I saw accounts of people putting crim de mint
in mohitos. Oh no, yeah, oh that is definitely a
hate mohito. Yeah, exactly, I'm making a face like a
like like when a cat gets a smell that it
doesn't like on its whiskers, like, oh, like get it off.
Me can't confirm, uh, but that flavor is also like
(12:52):
like mohedo is a flavor now. Um. It became popular
enough that there are all kinds of packaged products that
come in this mohito flavor. Um France has Mohito flavored
seven Up, which as accounted for fifteen of all seven
Up sales in that country. Wow, I know right. Um. Yeah,
(13:13):
there's candies like like gummies and gum scented stuff like
candles and perfume. There's mohito perfume you a, um, it's
making extract, it's a vape flavor. I'm always wondering about
those alcohol type perfume sense that if I were to
wear one, if someone recognized that, they would think, Wow,
(13:36):
she's she's drinking. She's always chicking mohitos. But I guess
if you could recognize that smell, I don't know. I assume.
I assume that they dial back the like booze scent
and dial up the like right, the like lime and
maybe caramel and and mint sense. Uh. Also, just I
(14:01):
know this isn't that show, but but just a quick note,
flavored vapes maybe don't maybe don't do them, like if
you if you were trying to quit smoking by using vapes,
I applaud you all day every day. I'm happy for you. Um,
But just the research that's out right now about the
flavorings that go into vapes. Um, the thing is that
these these are flavorings that are FDA approved for ingestion,
(14:22):
for eating, but they are not approved for chronically inhaling. Right,
So I would I just I just want I just
want you guys to have a nice time. Yeah, yeah,
maybe avoid flavored vapes. Yes, good note. Um, but if
you're looking for a cheesecake, Betty Crocker has a mohito
(14:45):
cheesecake crispy for you. I with the exact same way
that I want you all to have a nice time,
I also want you to have as much cheesecake as
as you possibly desire. Um. But but but yeah, there are
like a heck and lot of recipes out there for
mohito flavored foods. Um, Mohito bars kind of like like
(15:10):
lemon bars, but lime and minty um, Moose's pies, cupcakes, popsicles,
ice cream, smoothies, salsa, using the flavors as an inspiration
for for marinaides, for meats or fruit salads. I found
a recipe for a mohito macaroni salad, and y'all, I'm
still confused. It's like it's like elbow macaroni and green
(15:30):
peppers and crumbled case of fresco and chopped green onion
and mint, and it's tossed in addressing of mayo and
lime juice and chicken bullion and I and I don't
want that. Mm hmm. I maybe maybe I'm not thinking
of it, right, I mean, there's only one way to
(15:51):
find out, and you are allowed to be you because
it has mayo. Now I'm just kidding. I would go
in with oh, I can't do the green peppers. See,
this is just NiFe. Neither of us were both precluded.
Well darn it. I'd be open to it, honestly. But yeah,
(16:11):
I'm a I'm a little I'm not sure. I'm I'm
getting the vision that the author of this recipe wanted
me to get. But you know, it could be great,
it could be often. Food surprises you often, yes, sometimes
in a bad way? Also true, very true. You know
(16:36):
what else is surprising? History? Oh? Usually? Yeah, And we
will get into the history of the mohito after we
get back from a quick break for a word from
our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
(16:59):
And it wouldn't be a cocktail hour without some Injurgue
legend and multiple origin stories, multiple completely unconfirmed origin stories. Yes. Yes.
One of the more prominent ones has to do with
the bar in Havana, Cuba called La Bodaito del Medio.
They claim to be this part as to be the
(17:20):
originator of the drink and the claim enjoys the particular
of Earnest Hmmingway, who, my God, does he come up
in every cocole hour we talk about, um singling out
their version as his favorite. Tracing this version of the
story back a bit, the story usually goes that enslaved
(17:42):
people on the Cuban sugarcane fields created the drink using
a guardiente, the kenna or firewater of the sugar cane.
This was basically simple sugarcane alcohol. But and I find
this interesting. Some actually dispute that hmming Way thing, pointing
out that at least in their view, La Boda del
(18:03):
Medio was known for its food and its drinks. Now
there is a saying on the wall of this bar,
allegedly signed by Himingway himself, that reads in Spanish, but
I'm gonna read the English version, my mohito in la boquita,
my dacian el fod rita. But some people think it's fake.
(18:28):
I can't pin down one damn thing in these cocta flowers.
I you know, I I love it. I love a
good cocktail mystery. I love that that bars are are
motivated to tell these tales UM, and that people have
have emotions about them. It's all it's all very nice
(18:49):
and really frustrating as a researcher. Agreed, agreed, agreed, Okay.
So another version of the Mohito's Orches story goes back
to win Sir Fantas Drake attempted to rate Havana of
his gold around fifties six, and he failed on that front.
According to some sources, because Spain's King Philip the Second
had warned his governor in Havana about the incoming attack
(19:13):
um and Drake was the emissary of England's Queen Elizabeth
the First, and or Drake really didn't put much of
his heart into it, gave up after a few shots
um And on top of that, much of his crew
was suffering with dysentery and scurvy. So desperate, Drake sent
a party to trade with the indigenous locals who were
(19:35):
known to be proficient in the medicinal use of plants
of the region. And the party returned with a guardian
da da kana lime juice, mint leaves, and sugarcane juice sod.
They mixed all the ingredients together in Vola. They had
something that sources indicate worked. Now we know it's probably
the lime juice. Doing there be lifting there for they definitely, yes, exactly,
(20:00):
but I'm sure the sailors appreciated the added flavor absolutely.
I feel this also comes up in most of our
cocktail hours. Yep. Some sources indicated popular cocktail in the
area at the time was named after Drake L dr
or L Drock depending on wasn't sure if that derived
from the French pronunciation or the Spanish um. But yes,
(20:23):
it's perhaps named in the wake of the attack, and
it was composed of pretty much the same stuff with
the possible addition or substitution of brandy. The drink probably
wouldn't have been called mohito in its inception in this
version of the story, something that enslaved African people's didn't
invent it, but gave it the modern name, or that
it is a mashup of the Spanish word for a
(20:44):
little wet moja tito and mohoe, the name of a
line based seasoning in Cuba. Um also an African word
that I couldn't really trace the origins of, but moho
meaning little spell oh yeah um. And all of this
is also part of the origin story of the Dacre
and you can see our Dacri episode for more on
(21:07):
that and where they kind of diverge. Yes. Yes, Other
versions say the mohita was a natural evolution at a
time when rum and cubo was difficult to drink, you'd
naturally add whatever you could to make it more drinkable,
including things like lime mint and or sugarcane juice. A
lot of people think this was primarily happening with working
(21:28):
class people on farms um. And also, I would say
in general, this is probably the answer to most origin
stories for cocktail is that it was invented in more
than one place. It both served making perhaps less than
tasty alcohol taste better and also some sort of medicinal
(21:50):
believed medicinal purpose. Yeah, ye, yes, yes, and then probably
white tourists came in and that's where the origin story
usually the flag has pinned. But I would say multiple
people invented it in different places. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The
(22:12):
establishment of Bacardi in the mid eighteen hundreds probably helped
this drink and those other drinks like it game popularity. Yeah.
And uh, this is a fascinating story of Fecundo. Bacardi
bought this distillery in Santiago Cuba in eighteen sixty two
and began making um, and I think he was using
(22:33):
a different refining process for the molasses, began making this
this light, bright, smooth rum that was just excellent for
for mixing um, and it really pushed along Cuban cocktail
culture along with rival rum company Havannah Club in the
eighteen seventies. I think is when they hit the scene
when Ernest Himmingway sang the praises of the drink that
(22:55):
he had had at La Boda Guita del Medio that
only popularized it even more, but was the largest producer
of rum and sugarcane in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries.
By some accounts, when Bacardi rum replaced the Aguardiente, the
drac drucke became the mohito. In Ramon di Palma's eighteen
(23:18):
thirty three work El Colera in La Havana, he mentioned
l jocor l jocke, and then along comes prohibition in
nineteen twenty, the mohito spread outside of lower and middle
class farmers, where it was gussied up a bit with soda,
(23:38):
water and ice in a tall glass. Americans that could
afford it traveled to Cuba to have a few drinks,
including the mohito. In some versions of the origin story,
the mohito is a result of these Americans introducing the
mint jewel up to the locals of Cuba. Probably not true.
(24:00):
Probably not nope, nope, no, no, nope. Perhaps the first
recipe for the mohito in an American cocktail book appeared
in the ninety nine cocktail recipe book The Gentleman's Companion
by Charles H. Baker, or perhaps earlier in the nineteen
thirty two edition of Sloppy Joe's Bar, which is nice,
(24:22):
nice title. I like it. Mm hmmm. La Bota Guita
del Medio, operated by eng Hill Martinez, opened in nineteen
forty two, though under a different name, and it changed
names twice because the drinks were so good, again depending
on what's sorry she read, he drew into celebrities like
nat King Cole and Pablo Arruda. Demand for the mohito
(24:46):
dropped significantly after that, almost gone completely by the nineteen
sixties outside of Cuba. Some suspect this has to do
with the rise of shelf stable foods and drinks, and
there was also the problem of procuring Cuban Rum after
the Cuban Revolution UM, because starting in nineteen fifty nine,
the new government UM nationalized big private businesses. UH. That's
(25:08):
how mccardi wound up in Porto Rico. UM like Eventually
UH and due to trade restrictions, other Cuban realms, like
the aforementioned Havannah Club were no longer available in the
United States. It wasn't until the nineteen nineties that the
drinks started to make a comeback, perhaps a part of
the rise of Latin cuisine in the United States, with
the help of celebrity chefs. The mohito particularly took off
(25:32):
in cities. According to James Giles, a bartender who was
then working at Joe's Pub in Manhattan, UH this when
he was asked the most popular mixed drinks at his pub,
his answer was cosmos and mohitos. After the article was published,
It's set off this mohito boom, Giles said, I would
(25:54):
asked about it. A lot of the bartenders were really
upset with the me um Yeah. Yeah, And to clarify,
so he said that in the article he said cosmos
and moquitos, but this the quote I got was from
and UH. They These quotes come from a Punch article
(26:17):
by Drew Laser called can the Moquito's bad reputation Be Saved?
And It? Laser writes, that speaks to another one of
the mohitas perceived negatives. It's the quintessential train reaction drink,
meaning the second you mixed one, everyone within a half
mile radius is going to want one to Another bartender
(26:39):
called it a disease, and others called it a panic order.
Um uh, those those last two quotes. Um. The article
that those quotes ran in UM from the New York Post.
In the lead image was captioned, um, mohitos mo problems.
(27:02):
Mm hmmm yes, and I believe it had a bartender
smashing a mohedo with a hammer, big goofy hammer. Yeah yeah,
that was the image that that that that caption was
attached to. Um. Yeah. Yeah. And the mohito featured in
the two thousand two James Bond film Die Another Day,
(27:24):
in a scene where Jinks played by Halle Berry and
a James Bond played by Pierce Brosnan at that time
are flirting and you know, surprise, surprise, he offers her
a mohedo. This may be one of the reasons. The
Mohedo experienced a surge in popularity in the early two thousand's.
It also appeared in Miami Vice in two thousand six. Yeah. Um,
(27:48):
and you know, I'm not gonna blame Miami Vice for
this entirely, but I will say that between two thousand
and six and two thousand nine, the appearance of Mohito's
on menus in the US grew three hundred and fifty
per cent. I will blame Miami Vice for that. Speaking
of menus, Applebee's began selling mohitos and flavors like mango,
(28:10):
wild berry, and strawberry and two thousand and eleven. And
you know, if Applebe's is doing it, you have made it.
You have made it, I guess. Yep. We also have
a work apple Pie's group. Um, and we've been trying
to get to Applebe's for a long time because I
believe two of our members have have hundreds of dollars
(28:34):
worth of Applebee's gift cards. Yeah yeah, yeah. Our our
our dear friend, producer Paul uh just really, I think
on ironically adores Applebee's. There's something like very nostalgic about
it for him. Um and uh yeah, we've we've gone
(28:54):
as a big old group and had just a nice lunch. Um. Well, now, Dylan,
superproducer Dylan, he made a Facebook group called like get
Paul the Applebee's and he just put an arbitrary date
on it, and it's like a year from now and
we're thinking, you know, post quarantine, it might be time
(29:15):
to throw down at Apple Base. Yeah, that Applebeast party
is going to be lit. It's gonna be so lit.
We'll get mohitos all around in the Then managers of
l A's Honey Cut Daved Fernie and Mary Bartlett joined
forces with Iccarti to rehabilitate the Mohito's image after witnessing
(29:38):
people ordered the drink with what they described as sort
of an apologetic embarrass air. So the partnership with McCarty
was called the Mohito Project and it was a charity
fundraiser at a handful of bars. And as a part
of this, they made a mock p s a called
no Hito or the Risk that with Mohito deficiency as
(30:02):
they called it, are also mohito lessness, which was primarily
caused by thirst shaming. Yes, so a lot of strong
thoughts about the Mohito. Yeah, yeah, there there, I mean,
you know, yeah, I mean it makes sense and I
(30:23):
feel like I learned a lot in this, this one
about the difficulties of making one that I perhaps never
appreciated before. So uh we we Also, right before we
started recording, we we we texted producer Alex are Are,
our buddy who used to be a bartender in in
(30:44):
a in another lifetime and uh another work lifetime, not
like another like lifetime lifetime. I mean, I I don't know,
I haven't asked him about that, but at any rate, Um,
we texted him and he andy, uh, you know, we're
just like, hey, opinion saver, opinion poll, what's your what
are your thoughts on the Mohito? And he reports, Um,
(31:05):
the Mohito is a refreshing summer classic. The best iteration
is very simple, no artificial bullsh and lots lots of mint,
like more mint than you think, like whole plant, like
overfill the glass, never strain, chew that mint salad. That
is such an Alex's response. That is so great. Yeah, well,
(31:29):
I'm glad he doesn't seem to harbor and he left
over malicious I don't know, ill fillings. Yeah, for me too.
I got to witness him bartend once and I was
very impressed. He was doing like cocktail tricks, all the tricks. Yep.
(31:51):
We got a lot of scaled people. We work with
Lauren Gosh, we do, Gosh, we do. And we also
hear from a lot of amazing listeners. Oh that is accurate.
And we will get into some listener mail right after
we get back from a quick break for a word
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
(32:16):
thank you, And we're back with nurm Man. Yeah. Refreshing,
so refreshing. Turn it. I have had mango Stein's precisely
once in my life. I saw it sitting alluringly on
(32:37):
a shelf at a Chinese supermarket in Boston and bought
a whole, very pricey bag. I brought it to a
birthday party a day or so later, where we all
proclaimed it one of the most amazingly sweet, succulent things
we've ever had. There's another fruit that I've had once
that reminds me of mango Steins in color, shape, and sweetness,
despite not being remotely related the star apple or milk fruit.
(33:03):
This one I had in Minnesota when I was visiting
my boyfriend's family whose Vietnamese. They told me that in
Vietnamese the fruit is literally called the breast milk fruit.
The white, juicy center can be scooped out of its
soft purple cocoon with a spoon. I can't recall the
exact taste profile, but sufficed to say that it was
creamy sweet and sent my taste buds into transports of delight.
(33:27):
I had a fun time thinking about cheap childhood eats,
mostly breakfast foods that I could prepare in a minute
or less and eat before running out the door to
catch the six forty school bus before my parents were
a quake. There's potato bread with costcos, blue crab spread,
a slice of pecan pie. To this day, I can't
believe my health conscious parents let me eat dessert for breakfast.
(33:50):
But the one that set off the most powerful craving
at midnight as I was trying to go to sleep,
Thanks a Lot has a warm Costco croissant dipped in
cold old silk soy milk. I would microwave the croissant
for precisely twenty seconds to achieve a toasty softness without
risking sogginess. This was just enough time to pour out
(34:11):
a bowl of soy milk. My method of eating was
to soak the croissant progressively as I ate it. There
was always more soy milk left than croissant. Each bite
was a heavenly outpouring of gently sweet, refreshing soy milk,
followed shortly thereafter with a mouthful of buttery layers that
were fluffy and rich and delicate and chewy all at
the same time. I don't think I realized this at
(34:33):
the time, but thinking back, this is a lot like
the traditional way of eating the common and deeply unhealthy
breakfast food often called a Chinese curlor or doughnut. I
love that. I feel like my breakfast foods in your
situation were much more boring, like ate toasty salmon on
(34:55):
it or a cream of wheat, unless it was a
test a and then I got eggs, right right. I
think I was a solid like bowl of cereal, like
either honeynut cheerios or frosted mini shredded weeds mm hmmm,
or pretty much the entirety of my childhood. I cereal
(35:20):
was a dessert in my house, um, and it was
one of my favorite desserts and I craved it, and
I still crave it often, but I think I like these.
You're much more creative. Yeah, yeah, well those are lovely.
Um Anthony wrote, I just listened to your podcast about
(35:41):
muffins and I couldn't help but comment on your mention
of muffins. I'm from Toronto and at the time muffins
was growing in popularity. I was around five, but I
remember seeing them everywhere and their muffins are unforgettable. They
were the typical huge muffintop muffins that Seinfeld talked about.
Just hearing muffins takes me back to my childhood walking
(36:03):
the mall food court with my mom. I've been thinking
about muffins lately, since everywhere that sells muffins no longer
makes them with big muffin tops. With all this extra
time I have with COVID, I searched the internet for
a muffins recipe to get those big, crunchy muffin tops.
I found one that was close, but after making it,
it just wasn't muffins quality. I guess I'll keep looking.
(36:28):
I'll admit I largely really just wanted you to have
to pronounce muffing over and over again, I cotton. I
caught into that slowly as you like continued giggling. But
also I just love this. I this has never been
(36:49):
on my radar or it's not something I knew about. Um. Yeah,
and I do hope that you will are able to
achieve the muffins quality. Oh me too, me too. I've yeah,
I've never I've never made muffins like for that level
of fluffiness. Like I've never tried to get them to
like really overflow the muffin cup too hard before. But
(37:12):
but I'm but I know that there's a way to
do it. I'm sure, and I'm and I know that
there's a way to do it without like making them
taste like chemical. So yes, yeah, we'll keep us posted
to Anthony. Yeah, definitely if you figure out this mystery.
Thanks to both of them for writing. If you would
(37:34):
like to write to us, you can Our email is
Hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at
savor pod and we do hope to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
for my heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart
Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your favorite shows. Yeah. Um,
(37:56):
thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagin and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way. H
Hello, and welcome to Sabor Production off I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And today we're
talking about the Mohito. Yes, another cocktail hour. It has
been um. Oh, but what a delightful cocktail hour to
come back with. Yes, yes, um. And So I I
(00:30):
went through a huge, huge Mohedo phase in college, which
I now have realized probably earned me a lot of enemies. Um,
we'll talk about that more later. And it felt like
such a step up in my college mind because I
kind of started with like screwdrivers and mud slides. Order. Yeah, yeah,
the mud slide was definitely a staple of mine for
(00:53):
a while there. Yeah, and I also did white Russians.
I did White Russians, which is close to the mud slide,
right right. But then then I figured out my mint problem.
My issue with meant and no more. Oh right, yeah,
I see I Okay. I I feel like we could
(01:13):
workshop this and find something mint esque that doesn't bother you.
And you know, I bet if we could do such
a thing, a lot of bartenders would be very grateful
for it. Well, if you're asking them to make the
same drink with just a different herb. I don't think
that they would be particularly but at least it wouldn't
(01:37):
it wouldn't be another heck in Mohito. So I don't know,
um shrug. I also went through a mohito phase, um,
a little bit after I was in college, like like
like we're probably talking about around the same time frame
when they were just very popular here in the United States. Uh.
(01:59):
There was at least one restaurant that, for no reason
that I can particularly remember. I think it was like
an Asian themed restaurant, but they specialized in mohitos, and
I felt so bad for the bartenders there every day
because it would just be like thirty mohedos coming up. Um. Uh.
(02:23):
But no, they're They're delightful. I remember, I think I was.
I was at the club, I was in the club scene. No, Sharon,
I was. I was that person that got the mohedo.
But it was definitely not like somebody suggested it to me,
because I don't think I would have ordered it. I
don't think it was in my on my radar until
(02:44):
someone was like, you've got to try yes. Um. And
just reminder, we have done episodes online rum Agrical, Mint
and Sugar all important to this topic we're discussing, Um,
we do need to do an episode still on RUM
in general or like I don't know, twenty episodes like
(03:06):
like like whatever whatever format we think that we can
work that in on. And also when I was checking
to make super sure because I have no idea what
topics we've covered in the past, um that we had
not done one on ROUM in general. Yeah, like we've
done a lot of episodes, like we we just flew
right by the three mark at some point, and I like,
(03:27):
in in just totally unbeknownst to us, we need to
go back and we need to do a retroactive three
d oh. Yeah, okay, I'll see. My mind is blank.
So that's great. I'm glad that one of us is
working on it. Okay, I will. We'll have a big
(03:49):
favor celebration retroactively definitely. Speaking of celebrations, July eleven is
National Mohito Day here in the US. Um just missed it,
I guess, but but I guess. You know, really any
day can be a Mohito day if you, if you,
if you so choose, absolutely, and what is time anymore anyway? Exactly? Also,
(04:14):
speaking of I suppose drink responsibly. Drink responsibly, Yes, absolutely, yes,
But okay, let's get to our question, the mohito. What
is it? Well, the mohito is a high ball cocktail
featuring white rum, fresh mint, lime, and sugar diluted with
(04:37):
crushed ice and soda water into a refreshing kind of
smooth tasting drink. And let's let's break that all down
just a little bit. So, a high ball is a
type of drink with a more not alcohol than alcohol proportionately. Um.
The alcohol here in question is a white Cuban style rum,
also called light rum or sometimes silver rum. It's the
(04:57):
clear kind um and all right. Rum is a is
a liquor distilled from molasses, which is a product or
byproduct traditionally of refining sugarcane into granulated sugar. And white
rum is aged a couple of years in wood barrels,
but not long enough to pick up the deeper colors
or flavors of some other RUMs. So the mohito is
(05:21):
is a pretty simple cocktail. Um, not a whole lot
of ingredients. Um, but they require a lot of care
to make well. Um Like it's important to crush the
mint enough to release flavor. But you don't want like
a glassful of mint pulp that's all like bitter and
and leafy. You don't want to drink a salad. The
sugar and the and the acid from the lime should
(05:43):
be in balance. And the delicate and lightly sweet and
kind of like caramel, fruity, grassy flavor of the rum
shouldn't be totally overwhelmed by any of these kind of
overwhelming ingredients. Um. And there is disagreement over how to
do this correctly. Oh yeah, um, you you can find
(06:08):
a bunch of strongly worded recipes on the internet. Um.
But but I think that basically we can all agree
that that your your first step in making a mohito
is going to be to put your mint and like
just a little sugar, like like a teaspoon of sugar,
maybe in the bottom of the tall glass that you
will be serving said mohito in um. Spearmint is the
(06:31):
traditional type of mint, which I did not know and
find fascinating. Some people recommend that the sugar be simple
syrup instead of granulated sugar. Um. Uh. Simple syrup being
sugar that is dissolved into water in a one to
one ratio. The granulated sugar can can help break down
the mint leaves a little bit. The simple syrup is
gonna mix better into the drink. Again, I am not
(06:53):
stating a personal preference. I'm giving you the facts. Very
diplomatic of you, Thank you. I'm trying. I'm concerned. UM.
I will say white sugar is generally preferred either way, um,
because it's like a cleaner flavor and lets the flavor
(07:14):
of the realm come through better. UM. So okay, yeah, yeah.
You get your mint in your sugar in the glass,
and then you gently smoosh the mint with a with
a muddle um or the back of a spoon. And
what you're not looking to do here is grind. Do
not grind that mint, because most of the desirable flavors
in mint are right on the surface of the leaves um,
(07:34):
caught up in those little tiny hairs that mint leaves
have that give them just a little bit of a fuzz,
you know. Um. And so you're just trying to get
those those oils to release. You're not trying to mush
the leaves. Yams is a good technical term. I am
full of nothing but science words. This is true. I'm
(07:59):
totally on board. Um uh so so next, you're gonna
fill the glass with crushed ice, then add lime juice
and rum and stir um. Top that with more ice
if needed, uh, fill with soda, and then garnish with
a sprig of mint, plus a lime piece or twist
or spent lime half. A chunk of sugar cane is
(08:19):
sometimes included in there, as well as a garnish um,
and then you serve um. Some folks do add the
lime juice during the muddling step, especially if you're using
granulated sugar. I think to help dissolve the sugar a
little bit before you get the ice involved. I personally
like it when there's a little bit of sugar granulation
in the bottom of the drink. Again again I I
(08:42):
don't don't come for me, No, no stance is being
taken here, just explaining of facts, yeah, yeah, and and
expressing perhaps a personal preference yes, yes, which we're all
allowed to have, yes, hype of Aradically, the Internet sometimes
tells us otherwise. Um. But so that the result is
(09:10):
gonna be just just on the side of sweet um,
with brightness from the lime and this cool hit of
mint and very simpable um. The ice melts relatively quickly
blending the drink and giving you a slightly different experience
as you sip aht someone so badly. I know, all right,
(09:34):
Well what about the nutrition again, drink responsibly. Um. And
this one depends on how the drink is made. It
can have like quite a lot of sugar in it,
so um, watch watch out for that. But you know, treats,
treats are nice, Yes, they absolutely are. UM and it
seems that people do like this treat because we do
(09:55):
have some numbers for you. The drink is popular all over.
It also enjoys a fair amount of hate, which we're
gonna be touching them throughout this episode. It is perhaps
most popular in Cuba, It's motherland. Wayne Curtis, author of
and a Bottle of Rum, believes that if you walk
into pretty much any old Havana bar and hold up
(10:17):
two fingers towards the bartender, you'll probably get to Mohito's
in return. Yeah. According to Mental Floss, Google trends data
suggested is the most googled cocktail in Poland, and a
consultancy firm found that it was the most popular cocktail
in the UK. And I believe also in France it
(10:38):
was up there at least. Yeah, yeah, but but hey
about that hate. H It is almost always number one
on lists of bartenders most hated drinks. Oh yes, and
that's because it is so fussy to to make. I
would just say, I'm not going to tell you not
to order one in a bar, um, but like, read
(11:00):
a room before you order a mohito. Um. Like, if
you're not at a bar that generally makes fussy cocktails,
or even if you are, but like the bar is slammed,
consider a different drink. Um Like, if nothing else, a
different drink would get to you faster and you'll be
less likely to be disappointed with the results. I'd say,
(11:21):
I think that's good advice. And again we'll be touching
on this throughout, but I wanted to include this quote here.
According to Willie Melendez, who was then the bartender over
at Philadelphia's Almonte Cuba, which this when he said this,
people butcher the mohedo on purpose. I've seen people pour
(11:42):
nothing but hatred into the shaker tin and what you
put in combs out so but hatred. Yep, here's your
hatred mohito. Enjoy I've had one of those. Yeah, believe
I have to um, yeah, it's it's a fussy enough
(12:04):
drink that that there's a whole market of mixes out
there for home bars and also places that maybe don't
stock fresh herbs or just don't want to be buggered
about it. Um uh. You know mixes from just like
mint syrup that's meant to be diluted all the way
up to and including like mint and lime and sugar
mixes that you just kind of add ice and rum too. Yeah.
(12:26):
And I saw accounts of people putting crim de mint
in mohitos. Oh no, yeah, oh that is definitely a
hate mohito. Yeah, exactly, I'm making a face like a
like like when a cat gets a smell that it
doesn't like on its whiskers, like, oh, like get it off.
Me can't confirm, uh, but that flavor is also like
(12:52):
like mohedo is a flavor now. Um. It became popular
enough that there are all kinds of packaged products that
come in this mohito flavor. Um France has Mohito flavored
seven Up, which as accounted for fifteen of all seven
Up sales in that country. Wow, I know right. Um. Yeah,
(13:13):
there's candies like like gummies and gum scented stuff like
candles and perfume. There's mohito perfume you a, um, it's
making extract, it's a vape flavor. I'm always wondering about
those alcohol type perfume sense that if I were to
wear one, if someone recognized that, they would think, Wow,
(13:36):
she's she's drinking. She's always chicking mohitos. But I guess
if you could recognize that smell, I don't know. I assume.
I assume that they dial back the like booze scent
and dial up the like right, the like lime and
maybe caramel and and mint sense. Uh. Also, just I
(14:01):
know this isn't that show, but but just a quick note,
flavored vapes maybe don't maybe don't do them, like if
you if you were trying to quit smoking by using vapes,
I applaud you all day every day. I'm happy for you. Um,
But just the research that's out right now about the
flavorings that go into vapes. Um, the thing is that
these these are flavorings that are FDA approved for ingestion,
(14:22):
for eating, but they are not approved for chronically inhaling. Right,
So I would I just I just want I just
want you guys to have a nice time. Yeah, yeah,
maybe avoid flavored vapes. Yes, good note. Um, but if
you're looking for a cheesecake, Betty Crocker has a mohito
(14:45):
cheesecake crispy for you. I with the exact same way
that I want you all to have a nice time,
I also want you to have as much cheesecake as
as you possibly desire. Um. But but but yeah, there are
like a heck and lot of recipes out there for
mohito flavored foods. Um, Mohito bars kind of like like
(15:10):
lemon bars, but lime and minty um, Moose's pies, cupcakes, popsicles,
ice cream, smoothies, salsa, using the flavors as an inspiration
for for marinaides, for meats or fruit salads. I found
a recipe for a mohito macaroni salad, and y'all, I'm
still confused. It's like it's like elbow macaroni and green
(15:30):
peppers and crumbled case of fresco and chopped green onion
and mint, and it's tossed in addressing of mayo and
lime juice and chicken bullion and I and I don't
want that. Mm hmm. I maybe maybe I'm not thinking
of it, right, I mean, there's only one way to
(15:51):
find out, and you are allowed to be you because
it has mayo. Now I'm just kidding. I would go
in with oh, I can't do the green peppers. See,
this is just NiFe. Neither of us were both precluded.
Well darn it. I'd be open to it, honestly. But yeah,
(16:11):
I'm a I'm a little I'm not sure. I'm I'm
getting the vision that the author of this recipe wanted
me to get. But you know, it could be great,
it could be often. Food surprises you often, yes, sometimes
in a bad way? Also true, very true. You know
(16:36):
what else is surprising? History? Oh? Usually? Yeah, And we
will get into the history of the mohito after we
get back from a quick break for a word from
our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you.
(16:59):
And it wouldn't be a cocktail hour without some Injurgue
legend and multiple origin stories, multiple completely unconfirmed origin stories. Yes. Yes.
One of the more prominent ones has to do with
the bar in Havana, Cuba called La Bodaito del Medio.
They claim to be this part as to be the
(17:20):
originator of the drink and the claim enjoys the particular
of Earnest Hmmingway, who, my God, does he come up
in every cocole hour we talk about, um singling out
their version as his favorite. Tracing this version of the
story back a bit, the story usually goes that enslaved
(17:42):
people on the Cuban sugarcane fields created the drink using
a guardiente, the kenna or firewater of the sugar cane.
This was basically simple sugarcane alcohol. But and I find
this interesting. Some actually dispute that hmming Way thing, pointing
out that at least in their view, La Boda del
(18:03):
Medio was known for its food and its drinks. Now
there is a saying on the wall of this bar,
allegedly signed by Himingway himself, that reads in Spanish, but
I'm gonna read the English version, my mohito in la boquita,
my dacian el fod rita. But some people think it's fake.
(18:28):
I can't pin down one damn thing in these cocta flowers.
I you know, I I love it. I love a
good cocktail mystery. I love that that bars are are
motivated to tell these tales UM, and that people have
have emotions about them. It's all it's all very nice
(18:49):
and really frustrating as a researcher. Agreed, agreed, agreed, Okay.
So another version of the Mohito's Orches story goes back
to win Sir Fantas Drake attempted to rate Havana of
his gold around fifties six, and he failed on that front.
According to some sources, because Spain's King Philip the Second
had warned his governor in Havana about the incoming attack
(19:13):
um and Drake was the emissary of England's Queen Elizabeth
the First, and or Drake really didn't put much of
his heart into it, gave up after a few shots
um And on top of that, much of his crew
was suffering with dysentery and scurvy. So desperate, Drake sent
a party to trade with the indigenous locals who were
(19:35):
known to be proficient in the medicinal use of plants
of the region. And the party returned with a guardian
da da kana lime juice, mint leaves, and sugarcane juice sod.
They mixed all the ingredients together in Vola. They had
something that sources indicate worked. Now we know it's probably
the lime juice. Doing there be lifting there for they definitely, yes, exactly,
(20:00):
but I'm sure the sailors appreciated the added flavor absolutely.
I feel this also comes up in most of our
cocktail hours. Yep. Some sources indicated popular cocktail in the
area at the time was named after Drake L dr
or L Drock depending on wasn't sure if that derived
from the French pronunciation or the Spanish um. But yes,
(20:23):
it's perhaps named in the wake of the attack, and
it was composed of pretty much the same stuff with
the possible addition or substitution of brandy. The drink probably
wouldn't have been called mohito in its inception in this
version of the story, something that enslaved African people's didn't
invent it, but gave it the modern name, or that
it is a mashup of the Spanish word for a
(20:44):
little wet moja tito and mohoe, the name of a
line based seasoning in Cuba. Um also an African word
that I couldn't really trace the origins of, but moho
meaning little spell oh yeah um. And all of this
is also part of the origin story of the Dacre
and you can see our Dacri episode for more on
(21:07):
that and where they kind of diverge. Yes. Yes, Other
versions say the mohita was a natural evolution at a
time when rum and cubo was difficult to drink, you'd
naturally add whatever you could to make it more drinkable,
including things like lime mint and or sugarcane juice. A
lot of people think this was primarily happening with working
(21:28):
class people on farms um. And also, I would say
in general, this is probably the answer to most origin
stories for cocktail is that it was invented in more
than one place. It both served making perhaps less than
tasty alcohol taste better and also some sort of medicinal
(21:50):
believed medicinal purpose. Yeah, ye, yes, yes, and then probably
white tourists came in and that's where the origin story
usually the flag has pinned. But I would say multiple
people invented it in different places. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The
(22:12):
establishment of Bacardi in the mid eighteen hundreds probably helped
this drink and those other drinks like it game popularity. Yeah.
And uh, this is a fascinating story of Fecundo. Bacardi
bought this distillery in Santiago Cuba in eighteen sixty two
and began making um, and I think he was using
(22:33):
a different refining process for the molasses, began making this
this light, bright, smooth rum that was just excellent for
for mixing um, and it really pushed along Cuban cocktail
culture along with rival rum company Havannah Club in the
eighteen seventies. I think is when they hit the scene
when Ernest Himmingway sang the praises of the drink that
(22:55):
he had had at La Boda Guita del Medio that
only popularized it even more, but was the largest producer
of rum and sugarcane in the eighteenth and nineteen centuries.
By some accounts, when Bacardi rum replaced the Aguardiente, the
drac drucke became the mohito. In Ramon di Palma's eighteen
(23:18):
thirty three work El Colera in La Havana, he mentioned
l jocor l jocke, and then along comes prohibition in
nineteen twenty, the mohito spread outside of lower and middle
class farmers, where it was gussied up a bit with soda,
(23:38):
water and ice in a tall glass. Americans that could
afford it traveled to Cuba to have a few drinks,
including the mohito. In some versions of the origin story,
the mohito is a result of these Americans introducing the
mint jewel up to the locals of Cuba. Probably not true.
(24:00):
Probably not nope, nope, no, no, nope. Perhaps the first
recipe for the mohito in an American cocktail book appeared
in the ninety nine cocktail recipe book The Gentleman's Companion
by Charles H. Baker, or perhaps earlier in the nineteen
thirty two edition of Sloppy Joe's Bar, which is nice,
(24:22):
nice title. I like it. Mm hmmm. La Bota Guita
del Medio, operated by eng Hill Martinez, opened in nineteen
forty two, though under a different name, and it changed
names twice because the drinks were so good, again depending
on what's sorry she read, he drew into celebrities like
nat King Cole and Pablo Arruda. Demand for the mohito
(24:46):
dropped significantly after that, almost gone completely by the nineteen
sixties outside of Cuba. Some suspect this has to do
with the rise of shelf stable foods and drinks, and
there was also the problem of procuring Cuban Rum after
the Cuban Revolution UM, because starting in nineteen fifty nine,
the new government UM nationalized big private businesses. UH. That's
(25:08):
how mccardi wound up in Porto Rico. UM like Eventually
UH and due to trade restrictions, other Cuban realms, like
the aforementioned Havannah Club were no longer available in the
United States. It wasn't until the nineteen nineties that the
drinks started to make a comeback, perhaps a part of
the rise of Latin cuisine in the United States, with
the help of celebrity chefs. The mohito particularly took off
(25:32):
in cities. According to James Giles, a bartender who was
then working at Joe's Pub in Manhattan, UH this when
he was asked the most popular mixed drinks at his pub,
his answer was cosmos and mohitos. After the article was published,
It's set off this mohito boom, Giles said, I would
(25:54):
asked about it. A lot of the bartenders were really
upset with the me um Yeah. Yeah, And to clarify,
so he said that in the article he said cosmos
and moquitos, but this the quote I got was from
and UH. They These quotes come from a Punch article
(26:17):
by Drew Laser called can the Moquito's bad reputation Be Saved?
And It? Laser writes, that speaks to another one of
the mohitas perceived negatives. It's the quintessential train reaction drink,
meaning the second you mixed one, everyone within a half
mile radius is going to want one to Another bartender
(26:39):
called it a disease, and others called it a panic order.
Um uh, those those last two quotes. Um. The article
that those quotes ran in UM from the New York Post.
In the lead image was captioned, um, mohitos mo problems.
(27:02):
Mm hmmm yes, and I believe it had a bartender
smashing a mohedo with a hammer, big goofy hammer. Yeah yeah,
that was the image that that that that caption was
attached to. Um. Yeah. Yeah. And the mohito featured in
the two thousand two James Bond film Die Another Day,
(27:24):
in a scene where Jinks played by Halle Berry and
a James Bond played by Pierce Brosnan at that time
are flirting and you know, surprise, surprise, he offers her
a mohedo. This may be one of the reasons. The
Mohedo experienced a surge in popularity in the early two thousand's.
It also appeared in Miami Vice in two thousand six. Yeah. Um,
(27:48):
and you know, I'm not gonna blame Miami Vice for
this entirely, but I will say that between two thousand
and six and two thousand nine, the appearance of Mohito's
on menus in the US grew three hundred and fifty
per cent. I will blame Miami Vice for that. Speaking
of menus, Applebee's began selling mohitos and flavors like mango,
(28:10):
wild berry, and strawberry and two thousand and eleven. And
you know, if Applebe's is doing it, you have made it.
You have made it, I guess. Yep. We also have
a work apple Pie's group. Um, and we've been trying
to get to Applebe's for a long time because I
believe two of our members have have hundreds of dollars
(28:34):
worth of Applebee's gift cards. Yeah yeah, yeah. Our our
our dear friend, producer Paul uh just really, I think
on ironically adores Applebee's. There's something like very nostalgic about
it for him. Um and uh yeah, we've we've gone
(28:54):
as a big old group and had just a nice lunch. Um. Well, now, Dylan,
superproducer Dylan, he made a Facebook group called like get
Paul the Applebee's and he just put an arbitrary date
on it, and it's like a year from now and
we're thinking, you know, post quarantine, it might be time
(29:15):
to throw down at Apple Base. Yeah, that Applebeast party
is going to be lit. It's gonna be so lit.
We'll get mohitos all around in the Then managers of
l A's Honey Cut Daved Fernie and Mary Bartlett joined
forces with Iccarti to rehabilitate the Mohito's image after witnessing
(29:38):
people ordered the drink with what they described as sort
of an apologetic embarrass air. So the partnership with McCarty
was called the Mohito Project and it was a charity
fundraiser at a handful of bars. And as a part
of this, they made a mock p s a called
no Hito or the Risk that with Mohito deficiency as
(30:02):
they called it, are also mohito lessness, which was primarily
caused by thirst shaming. Yes, so a lot of strong
thoughts about the Mohito. Yeah, yeah, there there, I mean,
you know, yeah, I mean it makes sense and I
(30:23):
feel like I learned a lot in this, this one
about the difficulties of making one that I perhaps never
appreciated before. So uh we we Also, right before we
started recording, we we we texted producer Alex are Are,
our buddy who used to be a bartender in in
(30:44):
a in another lifetime and uh another work lifetime, not
like another like lifetime lifetime. I mean, I I don't know,
I haven't asked him about that, but at any rate, Um,
we texted him and he andy, uh, you know, we're
just like, hey, opinion saver, opinion poll, what's your what
are your thoughts on the Mohito? And he reports, Um,
(31:05):
the Mohito is a refreshing summer classic. The best iteration
is very simple, no artificial bullsh and lots lots of mint,
like more mint than you think, like whole plant, like
overfill the glass, never strain, chew that mint salad. That
is such an Alex's response. That is so great. Yeah, well,
(31:29):
I'm glad he doesn't seem to harbor and he left
over malicious I don't know, ill fillings. Yeah, for me too.
I got to witness him bartend once and I was
very impressed. He was doing like cocktail tricks, all the tricks. Yep.
(31:51):
We got a lot of scaled people. We work with
Lauren Gosh, we do, Gosh, we do. And we also
hear from a lot of amazing listeners. Oh that is accurate.
And we will get into some listener mail right after
we get back from a quick break for a word
from our sponsor and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
(32:16):
thank you, And we're back with nurm Man. Yeah. Refreshing,
so refreshing. Turn it. I have had mango Stein's precisely
once in my life. I saw it sitting alluringly on
(32:37):
a shelf at a Chinese supermarket in Boston and bought
a whole, very pricey bag. I brought it to a
birthday party a day or so later, where we all
proclaimed it one of the most amazingly sweet, succulent things
we've ever had. There's another fruit that I've had once
that reminds me of mango Steins in color, shape, and sweetness,
despite not being remotely related the star apple or milk fruit.
(33:03):
This one I had in Minnesota when I was visiting
my boyfriend's family whose Vietnamese. They told me that in
Vietnamese the fruit is literally called the breast milk fruit.
The white, juicy center can be scooped out of its
soft purple cocoon with a spoon. I can't recall the
exact taste profile, but sufficed to say that it was
creamy sweet and sent my taste buds into transports of delight.
(33:27):
I had a fun time thinking about cheap childhood eats,
mostly breakfast foods that I could prepare in a minute
or less and eat before running out the door to
catch the six forty school bus before my parents were
a quake. There's potato bread with costcos, blue crab spread,
a slice of pecan pie. To this day, I can't
believe my health conscious parents let me eat dessert for breakfast.
(33:50):
But the one that set off the most powerful craving
at midnight as I was trying to go to sleep,
Thanks a Lot has a warm Costco croissant dipped in
cold old silk soy milk. I would microwave the croissant
for precisely twenty seconds to achieve a toasty softness without
risking sogginess. This was just enough time to pour out
(34:11):
a bowl of soy milk. My method of eating was
to soak the croissant progressively as I ate it. There
was always more soy milk left than croissant. Each bite
was a heavenly outpouring of gently sweet, refreshing soy milk,
followed shortly thereafter with a mouthful of buttery layers that
were fluffy and rich and delicate and chewy all at
the same time. I don't think I realized this at
(34:33):
the time, but thinking back, this is a lot like
the traditional way of eating the common and deeply unhealthy
breakfast food often called a Chinese curlor or doughnut. I
love that. I feel like my breakfast foods in your
situation were much more boring, like ate toasty salmon on
(34:55):
it or a cream of wheat, unless it was a
test a and then I got eggs, right right. I
think I was a solid like bowl of cereal, like
either honeynut cheerios or frosted mini shredded weeds mm hmmm,
or pretty much the entirety of my childhood. I cereal
(35:20):
was a dessert in my house, um, and it was
one of my favorite desserts and I craved it, and
I still crave it often, but I think I like these.
You're much more creative. Yeah, yeah, well those are lovely.
Um Anthony wrote, I just listened to your podcast about
(35:41):
muffins and I couldn't help but comment on your mention
of muffins. I'm from Toronto and at the time muffins
was growing in popularity. I was around five, but I
remember seeing them everywhere and their muffins are unforgettable. They
were the typical huge muffintop muffins that Seinfeld talked about.
Just hearing muffins takes me back to my childhood walking
(36:03):
the mall food court with my mom. I've been thinking
about muffins lately, since everywhere that sells muffins no longer
makes them with big muffin tops. With all this extra
time I have with COVID, I searched the internet for
a muffins recipe to get those big, crunchy muffin tops.
I found one that was close, but after making it,
it just wasn't muffins quality. I guess I'll keep looking.
(36:28):
I'll admit I largely really just wanted you to have
to pronounce muffing over and over again, I cotton. I
caught into that slowly as you like continued giggling. But
also I just love this. I this has never been
(36:49):
on my radar or it's not something I knew about. Um. Yeah,
and I do hope that you will are able to
achieve the muffins quality. Oh me too, me too. I've yeah,
I've never I've never made muffins like for that level
of fluffiness. Like I've never tried to get them to
like really overflow the muffin cup too hard before. But
(37:12):
but I'm but I know that there's a way to
do it. I'm sure, and I'm and I know that
there's a way to do it without like making them
taste like chemical. So yes, yeah, we'll keep us posted
to Anthony. Yeah, definitely if you figure out this mystery.
Thanks to both of them for writing. If you would
(37:34):
like to write to us, you can Our email is
Hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at
savor pod and we do hope to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
for my heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart
Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your favorite shows. Yeah. Um,
(37:56):
thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagin and
Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope
that lots more good things are coming your way. H
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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