30 Cocktails in 30 Days – Day 8: the Daiquiri

Day 8 of our 30 Cocktails in 30 Days Challenge: the Daiquiri

It’s funny – we put off making this cocktail for as long as possible because we thought it would be trickier. Also, I’ve had daiquiris in the past and haven’t been that impressed.

I’m happy to say that this experience has shown me the error of my ways and to not be such a chicken!

Having come to my senses, I now know this fruity, icy, delicious drink is great fun for parties and perfect for getting your thing on for a Saturday night out!

The original daiquiri, named after a beach in Cuba, was more like the caprioska or caipirinha of Brazil with rum instead of vodka or cachaca. The idea of adding fruit came later, and what a revelation that proved to be.

The important thing to remember with the modern daiquiri (apart from how to spell it – more ‘i’s than a spider) is the balance of sweet and sour with the fruit. Strawberries for example are surprisingly tart when put in drinks, so you’ll need to adjust the amount of sugar syrup to compensate.

How to make a strawberry daiquiri

Here’s what you need:

For each drink

• Single measure of rum
• Single measure of strawberry liqueur
• ½ measure of lemon juice
• ½ – ¾ measure of sugar syrup
• 8-10 strawberries – hulled
• Ice
• Large wine glass
• Jigger measure, blender
• A strawberry and stick to garnish

Here’s what you do:

1. Put the ice in the blender first.
2. Pour in the rum, sugar syrup, lemon juice and strawberry liqueur
3. Slice the strawberries in half and put them in the blender too.
4. Blend the drink on high speed for a minute then on low speed and check the mix. If it’s still quite lumpy, continue blending.
5. Pour into the glass and garnish.

We also made a banana daiquiri, which was delicious – though I think we both still preferred the strawberry one.

For the banana daiquiri, follow the instructions above. Obviously, you’ll need to replace the strawberries with a peeled banana and the strawberry liqueur with banana liqueur. You’ll only need ½ a measure of sugar syrup for this as the banana and the liqueur are sweeter than the strawberry.

We found the consistency of the banana daiquiri to be smoother – probably because bananas blend easier.

You have to try a mango daiquiri when the fruit is in season too. It’s delicious!

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Images by Mrs Romance.