Muddlers

It wasn’t that long ago, that muddlers were a fairly rare component to find in the average bartender’s kit bag, these days however they are almost as common as the cocktail shaker itself. The typical muddler is a long slender piece of wood, often looking a lot like a mini baseball bat. It is used to crush fruit, mint, sugar cubes, etc. in the bottom of a mixing tin or tumbler, and can also be used like a mallet to crack ice, or when the ice is placed in a “Lewis Bag”, to fine crush or even powder it for drinks such as a Mint Julep.

A particular drink which makes the best use of a muddler, is the Caipirinha. To properly make this drink, you cover a quartered half-lime with granulated sugar, and then muddle it well. The muddling will not only release the lime juice, but it will also grind the sugar crystals against the skin of the lime, thus releasing some of its essential oils, with further enhances the flavor of this delightful drink. A couple of hints when using a muddler, so that you don’t come off not knowing how to use them properly:

1. The “working” end of the muddler is the flat end. In the muddler line up you see pictured above, the working end of all of the muddlers is at the bottom of the picture. Some might argue that a muddler is like a mortar and pestle, where the pestle usually has a very rounded end on it. Technically, this is correct, a muddler is very much like a pestel, but where a mortar usually is very rounded like a bowl, the glass or mixing tin you are crushing in normally has a relatively flat bottom, thus making the flatter end of the muddler far easier to use. You’ll note in the picture above, that the muddler second on the right has a very rounded “working” end on it, making it virtually identical to a typical pestle. Of all my muddlers (of which only a small fraction are shown here) this one is the worst to use specifically because of its rounded end.
2. Muddlers do not work well to muddle lime wedges in a glass full of ice. This is something you will commonly see bartenders do today. It was on a trip through Seattle several years ago that Gary Regan (author of “The Joy of Mixology”) first saw this method being used, and dubbed it “The Seattle Muddle”. The problem with this method is that you end up just chasing the lime wedges around the glass, expending a lot of energy, without a lot of results. To illustrate this, drop a couple lime wedges into an ice filled pint glass and muddle them up. Now remove the lime wedges and set them aside. In a new glass, drop in a couple of new lime wedges, and muddle them without ice. Now compare the “ice muddled” limes to the “dry muddled” ones. At the same time think about how much work you put into the ice muddle, and you’ll quickly realize the uselessness of this method.

When selecting a muddler, you want to find one that feel comfortable in your hands, is large enough for the way you’ll be using it without being too large, and that it is made from either a hard wood, or ideally a food-grade plastic. The generic muddlers that you find at many kitchen stores are usually finished in a shellac of some sort. These should be avoided, since the coating often chips off during use.

My personal favorite muddler is a P.U.G. Muddler (first one on the left in the above picture), which are made by Chris Gallagher, hand lathed from various exotic woods. He unfortunately doesn’t have any sort of retail outlet for these yet, you just have to e-mail him at jcgallagher08@hotmail.com to order (~$30 each).

David Nepove (aka. “Mr. Mojito”) makes muddlers out of maple, cherry, walnut, and food safe plastic, that can be ordered online at: http://www.MisterMojito.com

ChefTools (and other sites) sell what they refer to as a “Mojito Muddler”, and is made from bamboo, which makes it extremely durable.