Lime Wedge

The Importance of the Lime Wedge Garnish

Cocktails all over the world use a lime wedge as garnish. Take a look at the bartender's bag of tricks the next time you are at a restaurant. Even if they aren't headed to your table, look at the cocktails that are going to all of the diners – you'll see a lime wedge on more than half of all of the drinks that are leaving the bar. Why? Because the sour taste brings out some extra flavor to the alcohol and helps to tone down some of the power. It is why you will always see it served with a salt shaker when someone orders a tequila shot, too.

How to Cut the Lime Wedge

Cutting the lime wedge is going to require a small paring knife and a cutting board. Cutting the lime properly will make sure that you are able to get the seeds out so that you don't ruin a cocktail and also ensure that you have the proper shape. Otherwise, it will be a quartered lime and isn't going to have the same "squeeze" effect when someone wants to squeeze some of the juice into their drink.

 

Look at the lime when you are putting it on the cutting board. There are going to be two tapered ends. You want to run your knife along these two points so that the line connects them, slicing the lime straight through. Now that you have two halves, you can either cut them in half again or cut them in thirds, depending upon how large you want your lime wedge to be. If you plan on cutting a lot of lime wedges, you may want to head down to a kitchen supply store and get an actual wedger. This is a great invention that allows you to press a lemon or lime through a wedger and then you get 6 evenly shaped wedges without ever having to use a knife.

What to Use the Lime Wedge In

There are a lot of cocktails that you are going to want to use a lime wedge in. Triple sec and Grand Marnier already have a citrus flavor in them, so any cocktails that have one or both of these ingredients inside can always benefit from a lime wedge. This includes:

• Margarita
• Cosmopolitan
• Certain Martinis

A rum and coke can also benefit from the lime wedge because it helps to cut the harshness of the rum and soften up the flavor of the cola. As soon as the lime is added, it is also known as a "Cuba Libra," so you can order it as such at any bar to sound a little more sophisticated.

 

You may have also seen beers with a lime wedge in the top of the bottle. This is very common amongst Mexican beers and you can either push the lime wedge into the bottle to be enjoyed or just squeeze the juices in and discard the wedge peel. Tilt the bottle back to mix a little before you take the first sip.