Cocktail Hour: Strawberry Ginger Daiquiris

[SallyLightfoot]

Get ready for the summer. Here's a simple little project for next weekend (or heck-- tomorrow nite).

[b]Strawberry Ginger Daiquiri[/b]<ul><li>2 oz Mt Gay Sugar Cane Rum (or any white/gold rum)</li><li>2 lime wedges</li><li>6 fresh strawberries</li><li>1 tsp fresh ginger, diced finely</li><li>1 oz simple syrup (sugar cane syrup)</li></ul>In a short glass, muddle the lime, (cleaned) strawberries, ginger, and half of simple syrup until macerated into a syrup pulp. Add the rum, the rest of the simple syrup, and a dollop or two of the strawberry mix to a mixing glass (or a boston shaker). Shake vigorously and pour over fresh ice in a highball or martini glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Any room left at the brim of the cup should be topped with rum and a spritz of lime juice.

If you want to go completely crazy with this, you can either dip the brim of the cup in coconut rum (nice!), or dip the brim in simple syrup and then sprinkle freeze-dried coconut flakes on it (beyond belief). Sure, it's over the top, but if you're reading this far, you're obviously not insecure about your masculinity.

[b]Side-note[/b]: Mt Gay Sugar Cane rum is highly recommended for this drink, but any white such as Bacardi will also do. White rum in general is well known for its overall crappiness. With a little shopping, however, you can find something good. The very best white rums are El Dorado Silver, Diplomatico Blanco, Flor De Cana, Appleton's, Cruzan, Havana Club, and Oronnoco.

There you have it. Yes, it's a girly-girl drink, but it's also impressively delicious. Hello-- [i]fresh ginger[/i], yo?!?! If you want to make it less girly, there's nothing stopping you from doubling the rum, or putting a little overproof rum on top (Wray & Nephew's Jamaican Overproof, or Bacardi 151 if you must). This is one of those drinks that you're almost embarrassed to serve, and then everyone sucks down like 4 or 5 of them in rapid succession-- so be sure to have a lot of fresh strawberries on hand if you're serving to guests.

[SallyLightfoot]

Nobody's tried this yet?!?!?

Some of you may be thinking,"I don't want to spend $25 on a bottle of rum and the rest of the ingredients."

I can almost guarantee that if you make this drink recipe, you will finish the bottle of rum within a week. Invite some friends over for burgers and cocktails and the bottle won't even last a whole weekend.

[marie3]

I'd like to try it. But I have to wait until the diet is completed. [:)]

[MARV]

Marie.....MOJITO SEASON IS UPON US [8D]

<a href="http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/marvymarv/?action=view¤t=tick.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/marvymarv/tick.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[birdmadgirl]

I printed it off for when it warms up [:)]

[SallyLightfoot]

A few more points. Of course you can make this in a blender or Cuisinart, and (slowly) add ice cubes if you want it frozen. The blender is preferred if you want to reduce some manual prep or if you want to make larger quantities. Personally I prefer the hand-crushed/muddled approach, because it leaves the fruit chunky and you can munch on it while you drink.

Careful with the fresh ginger (and note that I absolutely advise [i]against[/i] dried powdered ginger from your spice cabinet). Sometimes ginger can vary in its potency, so start out with just a little bit and crush/mince it very fine. You don't want the ginger to completely overwhelm the fruit, but you definitely do want the mellow ginger kick.

Marie3, just for reference, 1 tablespoon of simple syrup is 35 calories. You'll probably use 2 or 3 tablespoons, depending on how sweet you like it. Some rums are more fiery than others, and adding sweetness smooths it out.