how to make clear ice

Let us look at how to make clear ice and all that you need in the process. What is so special about clear ice? In short, it is believed to melt more slowly than regular ice and give even classic cocktails a better taste.

But making those perfect crystal clear ice cubes and balls can be difficult without the right tools.
Traditional recipes call for freezing water in large blocks and cutting into cubes with a serrated knife or ice pick. But let’s face it: it looks laborious and dangerous (slippery ice-sharp objects = no thanks.

We recommend using a small steerable ice cube tray like the Dexase Clear Ice Maker Trey, which is easy to set up and use and costs less than $35. Trust us: We test all kinds of cookware and kitchen accessories, so we know a good ice cube tray when we see one.
Since we can’t resist the sight of a perfectly clear ice cube floating in an elegant cocktail glass, we’ve spent a lot of time researching and testing the best ways to make clear ice. In the end we decided on this method, which is a completely easy way to make clear ice – read the step-by-step tutorial here and at the end you will find an explanation of the science behind clear ice and why it is worth it.

how to make clear ice

What you need:
Ingredients
36 oz. spring water
1 Dexas Ice Cube Tray

Yields:

8 servings

Instructions

Step 1
Fill directed freezer ice cube tray with spring water mold according to instructions.
Step 2
Carefully place the tray in the freezer and let it stand overnight.
Step 3
Remove the tray about 10 minutes before serving and let the ice cubes “rest” in the molds or on the plate before transferring to the serving glass. (If the ice cubes are not resting, they can crack and even break if liquid is poured on them or if they are immersed in water).

You can let it rest directly in the serving glass before pouring your drink of choice, although that means the water that melts will also end up in your drink. This is not a bad thing in itself – it does not affect the taste, but it dilutes the drink from the beginning.
Step

How We Tried Making Clear Ice

We started by comparing the performance of different types of water (spring water, distilled water, tap water and boiled tap water) in standard ice cube trays frozen overnight.
None of these options gave completely clear results, although we found that all types of water produced clear edges and blurry centers (instead of being blurry everywhere).

After that, we freeze the same waters in a directed ice cube tray and fill each column with a different type of water.

We also let them freeze overnight, then compared them immediately after unmolding, five minutes after unmolding, ten minutes after unmolding, and finally 15 minutes after unmolding.
We found that spring water produced the clearest results, although both tap and boiled tap water were quite clear (except for a few bubbles and cracks).

Only distilled water did not become completely clear. Instead, it appeared to be full of cracks running down the center of the cube.
We then filled both a directed freezer and a regular ice tray with spring water, froze overnight, and served each with a spoonful of whiskey to see if there was a difference in taste.

Our testers didn’t notice a noticeable difference in quality, although they did report that drinks with the directional freezer cube tasted stronger.

Why make clear ice?

The benefits of clear ice are mostly aesthetic, although some bartenders and whiskey lovers say that clear ice melts more slowly, so your drink stays stronger longer. (Although we think it’s important to note that the slower melting may be due to the difference in surface area of ​​the different ice molds.)

Some experts also say that ice becomes cloudy when it has “impurities” in it, which in turn. can affect the taste of your drink, although in our tests we found that the difference in taste between clear and cloudy ice is insignificant.

What is targeted freezing?

In our tests, we found that the easiest way to get crystal clear ice is through a process called non-directional freezing. This basically means that the water freezes from top to bottom – unlike a lake that freezes in cold weather.

When water freezes, anything that would cloud the ice settles to the bottom, leaving the top clear. The directional freezable ice cube tray has extra space under the mold for sediment to settle, so you can remove perfectly clear ice from the top silicone mold.