How to Shake and Blend

This method is common with drinks containing fruit juices, cream or eggs. In today's time, a blender is most often used to blend drinks, but the old fashioned shake method is outlined below.

Mixing a drink by shaking it is a well known technique that became popularized during the 1930s. This technique is often used when creating a drink that includes hard to blend ingredients, such as eggs, fruit juices, or cream. Shaking a drink not only blends the ingredients together, it also works to chill the drink to icy perfection.

When shaking a drink, a shaker specifically designed for the job is usually used. There are two types of shakers to consider, both of which are often found made of stainless steel. A traditional model comes in three parts, one of which is a strainer that is built right in. A more modern model has only two parts. One is the shaker itself, while the other is usually a smaller shaker or a mixing glass. If you choose to use a two-part model to shake your drinks, you will need to have a separate strainer on hand.

It is best that you never use a shaker that you have made yourself, such as using two glasses that are placed rim to rim. Not only can a makeshift shaker such as this leak, the glasses can break or chip, which can lead to glass shards dropping into your drink.

Shaking is sometimes referred to as blending. However, although some may think that blending and shaking are the same, they are actually both very different ways to mix a drink. With both techniques, the ingredients will become mixed, but the procedure and tools used are quite different. The blending technique is used when the drink's ingredients, such as fruit, cannot easily be broken down during the shaking process. An electric blender works well for blending drinks.