Long Handle Muddle

Muddling is a marvelous way to punch up any cocktail, not to mention take advantage of spring citrus, like blood oranges.  But really you can  muddle anything from basil to cilantro, injecting real flavor instead of those infused liquors you buy in stores.

You don’t have to go out to have a muddled cocktail.  All you need is your favorite spirit and some fresh fruit of herbs to put your own spin on a mojito or Old-Fashioned.  This muddler (pictured right) has a long handle, so you can muddle right in the glass, which saves time & space.   The real clencher is the pestle’s base, which is shaped exactly like fruit, so it juices quicker and much more efficiently.   You can whip up your own batch of meyer lemon mojitos or clementine gimlet’s or whatever else looks ripe at the Greenmarket right now.

$20.99, BedBathandBeyond.com