If you’ve ever worked behind a bar during a rush you know how necessary it is to be able to make an easy cocktail garnish on the spot.
If you’re anything like me and love to give customers a beautiful looking cocktail no matter how busy you are, learning how to make lemon and lime citrus wheels will make your life so much easier!
This is the perfect garnish to first learn when just starting bartending because these citrus wheels look so elegant and are incredibly easy to make.
So let’s get into making these lemon and lime wheel cocktail garnishes!
Contents:
How to use lemon and lime wheel cocktail garnishes
What you will need
- Lemons and Limes, or any citrus: I will be using lemons & limes for this demonstration, but this technique also works for oranges and grapefruits.
- Cutting board: This item is pretty self explanatory, you need something to cut the fruit on.
- Sharp Knife: A sharp knife is super important behind the bar and especially for this specific garnish because the shape of the garnish will come out smoother. With the knife being sharp it will cut through the flesh of the fruit quickly, which means your exerting less energy and it actually minimizes the chance of injury, and we don’t want any injuries behind the bar.
What to focus on
There are two main points you should focus on when cutting this easy cocktail garnish:
- The thin/thickness of each slice: I personally like my lemon and lime wheels to be on the thinner side because I think it looks more elegant. If the wheel is too thick, can look a little clunky. But hey, at the end of the day beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
- How straight the cut is: When cutting your fruit, really try to cut them as straight as possible. The slices will appear more clean. It’s also great to have thin citrus wheels if you plan on dehydrating them because they will dehydrate faster.
Both of these points can be achieved with the use of a sharp knife.
How to cut the garnishes
To prepare ourselves, bring out your cutting board, knife, and a citrus of your choice.
Basically, we’re going to place our citrus on the cutting board with the ends of the fruit facing parallel to the horizon and we are going to cut it into slices from one end of the fruit to the other.
Hold the fruit slightly firm with your less dominant hand and hold the knife perpendicular to the fruit with your dominant hand.
Start by cutting off the end of the citrus that is farthest from the less dominant hand.
From here, cut each lemon and lime wheel slice 1/2 – 1 cm wide while moving toward your non-dominant hand.
The closer you bring the knife towards your non-dominant hand, the harder it will be to continue to hold the fruit. When it gets to a point where it would be dangerous to continue slicing the fruit because of how close the knife is to your fingers, simply stop where you are and discard the leftover end of the fruit. Then move on to cutting the next fruit.
Don’t feel confined to only using these citrus wheels as full wheels. You can also cut them in half to create half wheels.
How to use lemon and lime Citrus wheels
There are a couple different ways you can use this easy cocktail garnish.
To be able to place your citrus wheels on top of a cocktail glass you have to cut a small incision into the flesh of the fruit. (And make sure it’s cut through the flesh and not lined pith areas, otherwise the citrus wheels could tear easier)
See how the small incision allows the citrus wheel to sit perfectly on the glass!
Another way you can use these lemon and lime citrus wheels as a cocktail garnish is by dehydrating them.
Simply use the same technique of cutting them and pop them in the dehydrator. You will know when the citrus wheels are ready when the wheels are dark in color and the flesh of the fruit is not sticky.
Use this garnish on a cocktail!
