Cocktail garnishes that actually add something

Why a citrus peel is an ingredient, how to cut and express one, and the garnishes worth bothering with.

A good garnish is part of the drink: you smell it before you taste anything. Most of the classic garnishes work through aroma, and a few through flavour.

Citrus peels

The oil in citrus skin is intensely fragrant. Cut a wide strip of peel with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, taking as little white pith as you can (it is bitter). Hold it skin-side down over the glass and pinch it firmly: a fine mist of oil sprays on to the surface. That is "expressing" the peel. Run it round the rim, then drop it in or discard it as the recipe says.

• Lemon: the Martini, Sazerac, Sidecar and most gin drinks.
• Orange: the Old Fashioned, Negroni, Boulevardier and many whiskey drinks.

Herbs

For a mint sprig, choose the freshest top cluster, clap it once between your palms to wake the aroma, and set it right next to the straw so the drinker's nose finds it.

Spice, cherries and olives

• Nutmeg: grate it fresh over cream and egg drinks; pre-ground nutmeg tastes of dust.
• Cherries: dark cherries preserved in syrup or maraschino liqueur, rather than the bright red dyed kind.
• Olives: firm green olives, rinsed if the brine is very salty.

Rims

Salt or sugar on only half the rim lets the drinker choose. Wet the outside edge with a lime wedge and roll it in salt; keep salt off the inside, where it falls into the drink.