Wooden Ice Mallet for Crushed Ice

For anyone making juleps, swizzles and tiki. Those drinks do not want cubes: they want irregular crushed ice, which fills the glass, chills fast and is drunk down along with the serve.

The ice goes into the cotton bag, the bag onto the counter, and the mallet does the rest. The cloth soaks up the water released and holds back the shards, so the bar top stays dry and nothing flies among the clean glasses. With a wooden ice mallet you work in firm rather than violent blows, turning the bag every two or three strikes so the ice spreads out: hitting the same spot every time gives powder on one side and whole cubes on the other.

• Material: wood
• Use: breaking ice inside the bag
• Result: irregular shards, not cubes
• Pairs with: a cotton ice bag
• Length and weight: not stated by the supplier, ask us before ordering

Why wood and not metal

Because the blow is softer and the ice opens instead of shattering into powder. Metal transfers the energy in a more concentrated and faster way, so it makes far more fine material, which melts straight away in the glass and waters the drink. Wood, being more elastic, spreads the impact: you get shards of a useful size rather than snow. It is also why this tool has not changed in a hundred years.

Crushed ice is not made in advance

Or rather, it is made shortly before. Broken ice has a lot of surface and starts melting even in the freezer, and after half an hour the shards weld back into a single block that has to be broken again. Anyone working with juleps makes the crushed ice for the shift and keeps it in a container with a perforated base, so the meltwater leaves instead of sitting around the pieces.

Which drinks want this ice

The mint julep, which was born with crushed ice and gave its name to the strainer of the same family. Swizzles, which are built by spinning a stick through the finished ice until frost forms on the glass. And the whole tiki family, where the ice fills the glass above the rim and is part of the serve. In all three, crushed ice is not a fallback: it is the ingredient holding the drink together.

Care

Wood gets dried and never left to soak, because water swells it and then cracks it along the grain. No dishwasher, for the same reason. A wooden ice mallet kept dry and stored lying flat lasts for years, and the head is worth checking now and then where it meets the handle, which is where the wood works hardest.

FAQ

Do I need the bag? Yes, the wooden ice mallet is used with a cotton bag that holds the shards and the water.

Why wood instead of metal? Because the blow is softer and the ice opens rather than going to powder.

Which drinks want crushed ice? Juleps, swizzles and the whole tiki family.

Can crushed ice be made in advance? Shortly before: the shards weld back into a block after half an hour.

Dishwasher safe? No, wood swells and cracks: dry it by hand.

The more you buy, the less you pay: 4 pieces -5%, 6 -7%, 8 -10%, on the same item.

Dispatched from Rome, Italy. 15-day returns, free of charge. Questions before you order? Message us on WhatsApp on +39 351 929 6937.

The other tools for working ice are in the ice accessories category.