Muddling and fresh herbs

Mint keeps its oil in tiny glands on the underside of the leaf. Break those and the glass fills with the smell of a garden; grind the leaf itself and you get the bitter, vegetal taste of crushed leaf, which reads as lawn. Muddling is the difference between those two outcomes, and the whole skill is knowing when to stop.

What you need

• A muddler: unfinished hardwood or food-grade plastic, 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) long, with a smooth, flat or gently rounded foot. Leave the toothed, meat-tenderiser style on the shelf; it shreds.
• A stainless steel shaker tin, or a thick-based rocks or highball glass for drinks built in the glass. Never a thin glass.
• A Hawthorne strainer and a fine mesh strainer.
• Fresh herbs with firm stems and no browning: spearmint for the Mojito, sweet basil for Italian and gin drinks, thyme or rosemary for darker spirits.
• Ripe limes that give slightly under the thumb.

Steps: mint for a Mojito

1. Put 8 to 10 mint leaves in the base of the tin or a sturdy highball. Add 0.75 oz / 22 ml of 1:1 simple syrup (or 2 barspoons of sugar) first; the sugar gives the muddler something to grip. Add 1 oz / 30 ml lime juice.
2. Press the muddler straight down onto the leaves, give it a quarter turn, lift, move it an inch, and repeat. Four to six presses in total. You are bruising, not grinding. The leaves should look crumpled and dark at the edges, still whole, and the smell should arrive at once.
3. Stop. Add 2 oz / 60 ml white rum, fill with cracked ice, and stir or swizzle 10 seconds. Top with 1 oz / 30 ml soda. Slap a fresh sprig against the back of your hand and set it in the glass; the slap wakes the oils for the nose.

If you prefer a cleaner glass, follow Tasting Table's alternative and skip the muddler: put the whole leaves in the tin with the rum, lime and syrup, shake hard with ice for 10 seconds, and double strain over fresh ice. The shaking ice bruises the mint for you with less bitterness and no green flecks.

Steps: basil

Basil bruises faster than mint and browns within minutes of being crushed. Use 3 to 4 leaves, press twice, and shake rather than muddle whenever the drink will be strained. Fine-strain every basil drink; the tiny dark fragments are the first thing a guest notices. The Botanist's Secret, a Fabled Pour concept awaiting Jewelle's testing, is written around a shaken basil leaf for this reason.

Steps: lime wedges for a Caipirinha

Citrus is the one case where you muddle hard, and it is why Difford's warns about glass. The lime is the acid, the aromatics and the garnish in one piece of fruit, so you want the juice fully out and the oil from the skin with it.

1. Cut a ripe lime in half from pole to pole, trim the pith core out of each half, and cut each half into 3 or 4 chunks: 6 to 8 pieces.
2. Drop them skin side down into the shaker tin, or into a heavy rocks glass if you trust it. Add 2 barspoons (about 8 g) of fine or demerara sugar, or 0.5 oz / 15 ml of 2:1 syrup.
3. Press firmly and twist, working through every piece, until the juice has run and the sugar has dissolved into it. This takes 15 to 20 seconds and real pressure. If your ice is dry from the freezer, add 0.75 oz / 22 ml of chilled water and muddle a moment more, as Difford's does; skip the water with wet ice.
4. Pour the whole muddle, peel and all, into the serving glass. Add 2 oz / 60 ml cachaca, fill with cracked or small cubed ice, stir, and top with more ice. Serve with a short spoon so the drinker can keep stirring.

When to muddle, when to shake

Muddle when the ingredient has to give up juice or dissolve sugar: citrus wedges, berries, cucumber, a sugar cube with bitters in an Old Fashioned. Muddle gently when the ingredient has oil to release and little else: mint, basil, sage. Shake with the herb instead when the drink will be strained, when the herb is delicate, or when you are making more than three at once; the result is cleaner and the bitterness risk is lower. Dried spices such as cardamom pods want a firm crack, then a shake.

What can go wrong

• Bitter, grassy drink. Over-muddled mint or basil. Fewer presses, less force, or shake instead.
• Green specks in the glass. Shredded leaf and no fine strainer. Use a smooth-footed muddler and double strain.
• Thin Caipirinha. Lime not fully worked, or sugar left in grains at the bottom. Keep going until it is dissolved; stir the glass after the ice goes in.
• A broken glass. Hard fruit in a thin or cold glass. Muddle in the tin and pour into the glass after.
• Dull mint aroma. The sprig was wilted or chilled too long. Keep mint stems in a glass of water at room temperature for service and slap the garnish before it goes in.
• Off flavor from the muddler. A varnished tool sheds finish into the drink. Unfinished wood or plastic only; rinse and air dry, never soak.

Food safety

Wash herbs and limes under running water and dry them; muddled fruit goes into the drink skin and all. Change the water under mint stems every few hours and discard herbs that have gone slimy. Muddle only in a tin or a glass heavy enough for the job, and keep your free hand off the rim.

Sources

• Simon Difford, "How to muddle a cocktail safely and well" and "Caipirinha cocktail recipe", Difford's Guide.
• Food Republic, "How to muddle mint and other herbs for cocktails".
• Tasting Table, "Why you should think twice before muddling mint in your next Mojito".