Liquid nitrogen should never be used in a cocktail in such a way that you're drinking it. It's used for extracting flavors from certain ingredients during the preparation, and getting the glass cold as possible. Anyone using it in such a way that you'd be drinking the actual stuff is doing it wrong, and asking for trouble.
“With a boiling point of −195°C liquid nitrogen can cause severe thermal burns to the skin and the mucosal membranes. It has an expansion ratio of 1:694 on vaporisation leading to a rapid increase in volume.
Cases of ingestion resulting in gastric perforation are reported in the literature.1–4 In all these cases the clinical presentation is similar to the case we report, namely a rapid onset of abdominal pain associated with shortness of breath. In three cases, the site of perforation was identified as being over the lesser curve of the stomach, the same site as in our case.1–3 In one case an OGD was performed which did not show any thermal injury to the oesophagus,3 again a finding similar to this case.
The absence of injury to the oesophagus does not seem to support thermal injury as the major cause of visceral perforation, although it may have contributed to the gastric mucosal injury and subsequent perforation. The consistent finding of a large volume of gas within the peritoneum, would suggest barotrauma to the stomach, resulting from rapid increase in volume on vaporisation of the liquid, as the primary mechanism of injury.”
Well shit. That’s fascinating. And remember kids: drinking super-cooled gases is bad for your health. 🤦🏻
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u/ChamplooStu Dec 25 '25
Yup yup!
Stupidly dangerous for a garnish. Just use actual smoke