by Louanne Cox

Created on: October 25, 2007

Daiquiri's are a family of cocktails the main ingredients of which are rum, lime juice & sugar. Daiquiri's are named after a beach near Santiago, Cuba where the drink was invented in 1905. The Daiquiri legend goes that a group of American mining engineers were working at an iron mine near Daiquiri beach, Santiago, the General Manager of the company was Jennings Cox. One day in a bar called Venus in Santiago Jennings and his colleagues were entertaining and ran out of gin and so the daiquiri was invented.

The Daiquiri legend continues that the drink remained a local secret for about four years before another Daiquiri man by the name of Admiral Lucius Johnson tasted it, fell in love with it and introduced it to the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC. Where Washington leads the World follows. The Daiquiri continued to win fans including Ernest Hemmingway and John F Kennedy as it traveled the globe. It even has its own special day of the year; July 19th is National Daiquiri Day in the US.

The original recipe called for a tall glass packed with cracked ice. A teaspoon of sugar was poured over the ice and then the juice of two limes was squeezed over the sugar, two ounces of rum rounded out the drink.

The Classic Daiquiri that is served today is made with:-

4 parts light rum
1 parts fresh lime juice
tsp sugar syrup

You combine all of the ingredients, along with cracked ice, in a cocktail shaker. Shake well & strain into a chilled cocktail glass

A Frozen Daiquiri is made with:-

4 parts light rum
2 parts fresh lime juice
1 tsp bar sugar
cup cracked ice
lime slice

You need to combine all ingredients, except the lime slice, in a blender. Blend at low speed until slushy and pour into a chilled champagne flute. Garnish with lime slice.
Popular Daiquiri's are the Strawberry Daiquiri and the Banana Daiquiri, so here's the recipes:-
Strawberry Daiquiri

4 parts light rum
2 parts fresh lime juice
1 tsp sugar syrup
7 large fresh strawberries

You need to combine all of the ingredients, except one strawberry, with cracked ice in a blender. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled cocktails glass. Garnish with the remaining strawberry.

Banana Daiquiri

4 parts light rum
1 part triple sec
1 part fresh lime juice
1 part half-and-half
1 tsp bar sugar
sliced banana
cup cracked ice
lime slice

Pop all of the ingredients, except for the lime slice, into a blender and blend at low speed until smooth. Pour into chilled balloon wine glass and garnish with the slice of lime.
Just for good measure I'll throw in another recipe:-
Derby daiquiri

4 parts light rum
2 parts fresh orange juice
1 part fresh lime juice
bar sugar 1 tsp

Just combine all of the ingredients, with cracked ice, in a blender and blend at a low speed until smooth. Pour into chilled champagne flute.

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