"muddler" news and stories

Spring's here! Mix up a fresh, simple cocktail to ring in the season. Here are three to choose from.

When I was a kid, my mother always asked for a "Southern Comfort, old fashioned, with water instead of soda, muddle the fruit." It became a mantra I expected to hear any time we went out, and a muddler became this mythic tool for smushed, fruity goodness. I say mythic because I've rarely, if ever, seen them on the shelves. If you've ever hunted for muddlers before, you know what I mean -- most stores have every drink gizmo available, except for a simple muddler.

The only one I had ever seen on the shelves was the over-priced (in Canada) Williams Sonoma variety, with the green, jagged ball on the end. And then I went to the super-expensive restaurant supply store that I live near, and viola! A muddler. Not only a muddler, but a really nice wood one for $2. Now, just a few weeks later, the Kitchn has listed three basic muddlers you can buy -- but you can go even cheaper than their lowest at $6.99. (Unless, of course, you want stainless steel. Then you're looking around $10.)

There are a number of new, wood muddlers on eBay, starting at prices under a buck, or you could try websites like barproducts.com, which has light and dark wood ones under $5, plus other varieties for good prices. But first, you might want to see if you have a local restaurant supply store, and ask what they charge. Happy, cheap muddler hunting!

Muddle is a word with two meanings when it comes to food/drink preparation, which makes it a little confusing when you first hear it used. There is a tool used by bartenders, and anyone else who really likes to make drinks, called a muddler. It is a rod with a flattened end, like the one shown in the picture. It is used to crush ingredients together, usually at the bottom of a glass, which is a process known as muddling.

Most often, the drinks that are prepared with a muddle are those that involve herbs and citrus, because crushing them together with sugar releases their natural oils brings out their flavors of the ingredients more strongly. For example, a mint julep usually has mint and sugar muddled together at the bottom of the glass before adding the other ingredients. In a mojito, lime is added to the mint and sugar mixture, too.