Passion Fruit Mojito

You need just a handful of ingredients to make a traditional Mojito: white rum, mint, lime and soda. But that’s not where it ends. The simple cocktail is endlessly customizable. You can use wine or pisco in place of rum. You can freeze it. You can add any variety of fruit like strawberries, blood orange, mango or peach—if it grows on a tree or a vine, it can probably go in a Mojito. Because it’s such a chameleon, the Cuban cocktail is one of the most universally beloved. In fact, if you know someone who is just starting to dip their toes in the cocktail world after a life of drinking only wine or beer, you might want to start them off with a Mojito. Then, when they’re ready, make them a Passion Fruit Mojito.

Passion fruit is usually found in juice or syrup form, and that’s primarily because its innards are rather gloopy. But it’s an easy fruit to work with—in this case you just cut it in half and scoop the seeds and pulp into your shaker—and it adds a tropical tartness you can’t get from citrus alone. Passion fruit also adds a pale yellow/green hue to this Mojito that makes it really stand out. Just remember to really muddle hard. Since the bulk of a passion fruit is seeds, you really have to work to crush them and get all the flavor that you can.