Strawberry mojito cocktails

Place the strawberries, fresh lime juice, sugar cane juice (or simple syrup/other sweetener), and a few mint leaves in a blender or food processor. Blend until you have a smooth puree. You should have about 3 ½ to 4 cups of this pureed strawberry mix.

To make a full batch of mojitos in a large pitcher, muddle most of the remaining mint stems/leaves (save a few for garnishing), then add the strawberry puree and the rum. For the rum, I recommend starting with a lower amount and then adjusting as you taste the final drink.

Next add ice and the sparkling water, mix well. Taste and add more rum – or sparkling water/simple syrup.

Garnish with the rest of the mint leaves, strawberry slices, and lime slices.

To make a mocktail version or what I call the “everyone adds rum/alcohol to their taste” variation follow the same steps without adding the rum, and let each person mix in the amount or type of rum/alcohol they do (or don’t) want to add.

To serve in individual glasses, moisten the rims with a slice of lime and garnish the rims with the regular sugar, a cocktail flavored rimming sugar, or cookie sugar sprinkles. You can add ice cubes, mint leaves, strawberry slices, and limes slices to the individual glasses.