It was in Spring last year that I watched Vice’s short documentary on the Daquiri culture found in New Orleans.  I’d always liked Daquiris, Saturday brunches after big nights out are regularly started with a banana daquiri, but I hadn’t ever realised that pretty much anything frozen with booze in it could share the same name, and it was that that made me crave something I hadn’t had in a long time - an original daquiri.

Legend goes that the Daquiri was invented in the early 20th century by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer, in Santiago, Cuba when no other ingredients for an afternoon cocktail were on hand.  The original recipe only called for rum, citrus and sugar, a vigorous stirring and a glass of packed ice.  In the 1940s the popularity of the Daquiri exploded through America, due to rationing on whiskey and vodka and trade through the Caribbean opening up meaning an endless supply of rum.  It should also be mentioned that this was writing legend Ernest Hemingway’s favourite drink.

These days anything that’s put in a blender with rum, ice and an assortment of fruit is pretty much designated as a frozen daquiri.  Whilst all those are delicious, there’s something about the combination of lime, sugar and rum on their own that I find a thousand times more refreshing.  Now, my daquiri is certainly not one for the tradionalists.  For one, I don’t use sugar but instead sugar syrup.  This is pretty much a timesaving measure, and when it’s a 25 degree day and all you want is icy drunken goodness all adherence to tradition goes out of the window.  I also choose to use a golden rum instead of a white rum, purely out of preference - I’m sure you could sub in whatever you wanted, even something spiced and disgusting and it would still come out pretty great. 

Before I get into the recipe I want to throw out a recommended purchase which is certainly great for making daquiris but will also make your general cooking life easier.  Hand Lime Squeezers (as seen a couple of images above) are the best things ever for juicing a lime.  Simply slice that bad boy in half and crush straight into the glass!  They also come in lemon and orange sizes, so if you really feel like it you can collect the whole set.  You can grab them from catering equipment supplies like Nisbets for around £5.99 - get yours here.  An ice crusher would also definitely come in handy.

So here we go - the most refreshing cocktail on the menu. The Daquiri.  Serve in a short glass!

Ingredients

Juice of half a lime
2 oz Golden Rum

0.5 oz Sugar Syrup

Crushed Ice to fill glass

Method

1. Juice half a lime straight into your glass

2. Add 25ml of sugar syrup

3. Add 100ml Golden Rum

4. Pack glass with crushed ice

5. Stir and try not to drink the whole thing instantly, like I do.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin