If you’re a fan of margaritas, you might be used to drinking your cocktail with a rim of kosher salt for added depth of flavour. What you might not be aware of is how rich and varied the world of cocktail rimming salts really is!
As it happens, cocktail rimming salts are often made of special blends of different items to generate unique and special flavours and textures that better complement whatever drink they are paired with. Below is our quick guide to cocktail salts, how they work and what you can really do with them.
How Do You Properly Rim a Cocktail Glass?
Before you get into the different mixtures of salts, it’s critical that one knows how to properly rim the glass with salt. It’s relatively simple and only involves 3 main steps, but it’s still amazing how many people manage to get it wrong and mess it up.
Step 1: Salt Preparation
First, the salt needs to be mixed and then placed in a dish of sufficient depth for the whole cocktail glass to be placed into it and gain an even coating. An ideal solution is to use a shallow plate, and not to pile on too much salt at any one time. If you create a huge pile of salt, then depending on which salt you use, dipping in glass after glass will eventually cause clumping.
Kosher salt is often favoured as the base salt, and that’s mostly for its unique and deep flavour. One issue with kosher salt is that it’s very pure and doesn’t always contain anti-clumping agents, but now a good number of them do. So, just use about a tablespoon of salt or so each time. That should be enough salt with your other mixed-in ingredients to cover two cocktail glasses. Then you can prepare fresh salt.
Step 2: Glass Preparation
With the salt mixture in position on your dish, you now need to ready the glass to receive the salt. What’s required is for the rim of the glass to be wet so that when it’s dipped into the salt, the crystals will stick to the liquid. Water is sometimes used since it’s abundant and easy to access, but it’s not the best choice. It’s easy for water to be in excess on the glass, which means it’ll drip into your salt and start clumping it.
Instead of water, use a fresh lime wedge and run it around the rim of the glass. Lime juice is stickier than water, and won’t drip as it’s easy to apply a nice thin layer to the rim. It’s not essential that you use lime, although lime is the most common since it pairs well with margarita flavours. If you’re making cocktails based on different fruit, however, then any citrus fruit will do, you can match it up with your cocktail.
Step 3: Rim the Glass
Finally, put the glass into the salt, and twist it slowly in a complete spin. Take it out and look. If it is uneven or patchy, repeat the process until you have an even-looking layer. And that’s it!
Interesting Salt Combinations
As we mentioned, kosher salt is often the preferred base salt, but how salts are mixed with other ingredients often provides unique blends that suit specific drinks. For instance, those who like something with a spicy kick will enjoy their margarita with sriracha salt instead of regular salt. Those with a sweet tooth will love the taste of salted caramel instead, perfect for those sweeter cocktails like an espresso martini.
You can also greatly alter the appearance of your rimming salts with different colours, fruit flavours and more aspects. Who knew salt could be so exciting?
