Pantry’s pickles, olives hide a melange of cocktail glasses
Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2008
LOS ANGELES — It’s appalling what some people will pay for nice cocktail glasses. A mojito glass for $ 15. 95 ?
My fellow social-drinking Americans, there is a solution.
If your shelves are well-stocked and you look just right, you’ll begin to see they are packed with highballs, lowballs, Collins glasses, tumblers and old-fashioned glasses. Pop open the fridge and you might see a perfectly acceptable pilsner glass, a sturdy goblet, even a decanter or three.
Virtually every style of cocktail glass (no margarita or wine glasses — that’s stemware, technically ) is before you. And it’s all free.
That is, once you’ve paid for the jelly, pickles, iced tea, baby food, mayonnaise, pimentos, preserves, spaghetti sauce, olive paste or whatever it is you have to use up to get to your prize.
That’s right. I’m talking about drinking from jars.
My pack rat, jar-hoarding habit started a few months ago when POM rolled out a new line of pomegranate iced teas. The tea was OK, but the reason I paid almost $ 3 for 16 ounces of steeped tree leaves and fruit juice was that the stuff came in a sturdy mojito glass. I was lucky to assemble a set of six before they switched to plastic. (Can’t a mojito go into any old glass ? The answer is a qualified no — just like you wouldn’t pour a ’ 99 Barolo into a sippy cup. Any good cocktail thrives in its assigned vessel. )
Many of the jars we bring home from the grocer are just the right size, shape and sturdiness to stand in for the many types of cocktail glasses. To wit: Highball / Collins glass: A “Tom Collins” glass is supposed to be a little taller than a highball, but this is freebie stuff, so consider them interchangeable. Most small commercial jelly jars hit the desired 8- to 12-ounce target. Use for white Russians, bloody marys and regular alcohol-plus mixers, like scotch and sodas or gins and tonic.
Lowball, old-fashioned or “rocks” glass: Aficionados will make a distinction among the three, but anyone who labels himself “aficionado” probably won’t wash out jars. That’s too bad, because these people probably buy the expensive jelly, which comes in those squat, wide-mouth jars that make a perfect rocks glass. Some salsas will have the right width and open mouth. Use for booze, ice, and not much else. Pilsner glass: Some folks like light German or Belgian beers in a tall, tapered Pilsner glass; I prefer a small, 6- to 8-ounce Ball jar. When you finish what’s in the glass, there are bonus ounces left in the bottle. It’s like getting twofor-one ! Also use for heavy afterdinner drinks like Grand Marnier, or grappa.
Mojito: It’s a shame POM dropped its glass-jar packaging, but there are good alternatives. A lot of food companies use the tall, slender 16-ounce jars that are perfect for the muddling process that can muss up your floors and countertops in the wrong glass. And don’t worry if they have a tapered neck — the lip is helpful to avoid spills when it’s time to dredge up the crushed mint leaves and sugar into the drink with a spoon. There is a downside of using jars as cocktail glasses. You have to run them through the dishwasher a time or three to clean them, get the stubborn labels off and remove the smell. If, after a few cycles, your jar still smells like pickled peppers, try stuffing it with crumpled newspaper and a little baking soda overnight. And if that doesn’t work, you’ve already put more effort into free glassware than it’s worth (don’t bother with peanut-butter jars; unless you want to drink only Kahlua from it and call it a Reese’s ). Toss it out and wait for the next one.
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