What garnish goes with a Margarita (and how to salt the rim properly)

The short version: salt on the rim, a dried lime wheel on the edge. That is the whole finish, and it takes about thirty seconds.

The longer version is that most home margaritas are let down by the rim rather than the drink. The tequila is fine. The lime is fine. Then the salt slides into the glass, goes cloudy in the first sip, and the whole thing looks like it was made in a hurry. Below is how to stop that happening.

How to salt a margarita rim so it holds

1. Tip your salt into a shallow dish, wide enough to lay the glass on its side. A saucer works. A ceramic rim dish works better because the salt sits in an even layer instead of a heap.
2. Run a lime wedge around the outside edge of the glass only. Do not wet the inside.
3. Hold the glass sideways and roll the outer edge through the salt, turning as you go. Do not press the glass down into the dish.
4. Stand it up and leave it a minute before you pour. The rim sets as it dries.

The mistake nearly everyone makes is wetting the whole rim, inside and out, and dunking the glass straight down. Salt on the inside wall drops into the drink, the liquid dissolves it, and within a minute you have a salty margarita and a bare rim. Outside edge only.

Which salt to use

Table salt is too fine and dissolves on contact. Rock salt is too coarse to stick. You want something in between, and ideally something with a bit of flavour in it, because the rim is the first thing that hits your mouth.

Our Chilli Citrus Salt Rim Dust was built for exactly this drink: salt, citrus and a low chilli heat that lifts the tequila rather than fighting it. A $15 pouch does around 25 drinks, which works out at about 60 cents a glass to make the difference between a margarita and a good one.

If chilli is not your thing, the other rim dusts all work on a margarita. Passionfruit sherbet is the one people are most surprised by.

The garnish

A dried lime wheel on the rim, and nothing else. It is the classic pairing for a reason: the lime echoes what is in the glass, the dried slice holds its shape instead of wilting, and the colour reads against the salt.

Dried beats fresh here. A fresh wedge sweats, slips down the side of the glass and looks tired within ten minutes. A dried slice sits where you put it and still looks good an hour later, which matters if you are making drinks for people rather than drinking them immediately.

One garnish is enough. A salted rim and a lime wheel is a finished drink. Add a second and third and it stops looking styled.

The recipe

Ingredients (per serve)

• 45ml tequila
• 30ml lime juice
• 15ml Cointreau or triple sec
• 10ml sugar syrup
• F N Lemons Chilli Citrus Salt rim dust
• F N Lemons dried lime slice

Method

1. Wet the outside rim of your glass with lime and roll it through the Chilli Citrus Salt. Set it aside to dry.
2. Combine the tequila, lime juice, Cointreau and sugar syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake for 10 to 15 seconds, until the outside of the shaker is cold.
3. Strain into the glass and garnish with a dried lime slice.

If you are making a round of them

Shaking six margaritas one at a time is how a good evening turns into an hour behind the bench. The Mr Consistent Margarita Mixer does ten serves from one bottle, so you add tequila, pour, and spend the rest of the night with everyone else. The rim and the garnish are still what people notice.

For a gift, the Classic Margarita Gift Set puts the mixer, the salt and the garnish in one box with free shipping.

Everything we make is handcrafted in small batches here in the Waikato, using real fruit and natural ingredients. Browse the dried citrus range, with free shipping on orders over $100.