It's a great way to cool off in summer. An interesting combination of flavors of a chocolate cube swirling in a whirlwind of vanilla milk. This dessert has ice cream velvety and coolness, which is so lacking in summer.

The ice chocolate cubes are especially interesting because they are not just frozen chocolate. They also contain milk, instant coffee, sugar.

Ingredients:

• 200 ml of milk;
• 50 ml of water;
• 70 g dark chocolate;
• 1 tsp Sahara;
• 1 tbsp cocoa;
• 1 tbsp instant coffee.

Melt the chocolate, mix with the rest of the ingredients, pour into ice cube trays and freeze.

Frozen chocolate cubes are great for cocktails, milk and iced coffee.

19. Freeze fruit juice and add to sparkling water.

The juice cubes will melt, transferring not only coolness to the water, but also a magical taste.

20. Use ice cube trays to store leftover homemade cookie dough.

Next time you cook homemade cookies, you can freeze the rest of the dough in an ice cube tray. Then, when you want something sweet, you simply defrost the required number of cubes. This way you always have only fresh cookies.

21. Use frozen greens for smoothies.

It's great to use fresh herbs, but sometimes they need to be boiled before eating. Then boil some greens, use a blender to puree, freeze the puree in ice cube trays. Now you can just get out a few ice cubes and not spend a lot of time preparing your morning cocktail.

22. Make light frozen yogurt.

Freeze yogurt to enjoy on hot days. Quality yoghurt should not lose its fluffy texture, even if frozen.

23. Freeze homemade chicken and vegetable broths for later use.

In the freezer, stock cubes can be stored for 2 months, and you only need to defrost the required amount during cooking.

Ice performs several important functions in the process of preparing a cocktail, such as: cooling the serving glass, bar equipment and ingredients included in the cocktail, grinding the structure of the future cocktail, diluting the cocktail with water during the preparation process, and finally, ice in many cocktails is also a decoration ...

In the early days of my Imbiber career, I prepared ice for cocktails in special ice cube trays. And I was always annoyed that the ice in them turned out to be somehow cloudy and opaque. From this, first of all, the aesthetic appearance of the cocktails I prepared suffered. I shoveled a bunch of Internet resources, tried to make ice from filtered water, and from boiled, and even from distilled water. Several times he froze and thawed the water, in general, he had fun as best he could. But this did not provide the required result.

The fact is that no matter how I tried to cleanse the water from impurities, there was still one component in it, different from H 2 O. This is air. It is always present in water to a greater or lesser extent, and in the process of water freezing, it concentrates closer to the center of the container, together with dissolved salts contained in the water, and freezes last. After all, it is no secret that water in a container, when frozen, goes into a solid state starting from the surface and from the sides of the container, and salts and air are concentrated in the center and freeze last. From this it turns out in the center of the ice cubes, such a whitish dregs.

When using ice generators, ice freezes in cone-shaped or square ice molds not all at once, but gradually, as if layering on the already frozen previous layer of ice. Moreover, each of the thin layers of water freezes almost instantly. The result is very clean and transparent ice. But an ice maker costs from 15 thousand rubles, and it takes up a decent place in the bar. Therefore, for me it was not an option. A clear ice oh, how I wanted.

As a result, after several experiments with the gradual pouring of water into the molds, changes in the volumes of the freezing liquid, piercing the ice during the freezing process to release air, and other things, I found a way to make crystal clear ice at home without any significant effort. , which I share below, in the hope that it will be useful to someone someday:

1. First of all, only filtered water should be used. If you don't have a home filter at hand, you can use drinking water from plastic bottles but never tap water. There are too many foreign unwanted impurities in it.
2. Next, we collect water in a large enough container, 2-3 liters. Any metal bowl will do, but you need to take a deep one, with a side height of 10-15 centimeters.
3. We put the container with water in the freezer (I also wrap the container itself in a bag so that frost does not fall from the ceiling of the freezer on top of the water. In addition, the water evaporates a little during the freezing process, and these vapors adhere to the inner surfaces of the freezer, accelerating the onset of the moment when the freezer will need to be defrosted, so the bag prevents this process). We turn on the freezer to the maximum. I have it minus 24 o C.
4. We are waiting for the water in the container to freeze completely.
5. We take out the resulting ice from the container. To do this, pour over the container with cool water. Yes, the ice will crack in this case, but this will not affect the final result.
6. We put ice in a large, spacious towel (very preferably lint-free), take an ice pick in one hand (whoever doesn’t have such a tool at hand, I recommend using a large Phillips screwdriver) and the edges of the towel in the other hand (you should get a “pocket”) and chop off chunks of ice at a distance of about 5 cm from the center of the ice block into the formed "pocket". If necessary, we split the resulting pieces into smaller pieces.
7. Pour the resulting pieces of ice into a cocktail glass and enjoy the result. It will be absolutely transparent, since all the dregs (air, salts and impurities) will be concentrated in the center of the block of ice.

I want to note that the ice obtained in this way will of course be shapeless, often with sharp uneven edges and corners, but when liquid is poured onto such ice into a glass, it ceases to be at least any important, because sharp edges are almost instantly smoothed out when in contact with more by definition warm liquid.

One more point: ice should always be used fresh, not older than 2 - 3 days, as it quickly weathered, covered with drizzle and again becomes cloudy. That, in fact, is my whole not even secret method of obtaining transparent ice.

Recently, I have completely switched to crushed ice in the serving glass, and use ice cube cubes only in a shaker, mixing glass and cool barware with them.

And now I invite the Russian-speaking "cocktail community" in the comments to discuss their own ways and methods, and maybe secret techniques of working with ice !!!

For any occasion, I would like to surprise guests and make dishes, drinks not only tasty, but also beautiful. And the easiest and most affordable option to decorate them is to serve original ice. It can be made different in shape, color, size, but the most important nuance in this, it would seem, a simple matter- take quality water and prepare it correctly. Then a beautiful serving of a dish, a drink will be provided - you can easily surprise guests or just people close to you, and they will thank you with their enthusiastic words of gratitude. How to make clear ice at home the same as in any bar? Consider the options below.

How to get clear ice?

In fact, everything is simple - ordinary physics:

• If there are no air bubbles in the frozen water, it will be transparent.
• If there are a lot of bubbles in the water, it will turn out cloudy when frozen.

Why is this happening? When freezing, the liquid solidifies unevenly, and starting from the edge. Therefore, layer by layer, water accumulates all the air in the center. And when the air has nowhere to get out, and the center begins to freeze, that same muddy middle appears. Therefore, to make the ice transparent, you need to remove air from it. There are several options for this.

Ice maker - professional version

You can always get a special water freezer, which is used in most bars. Today there are many different icemaker options, from simple home models to large professional ones.

The essence of the device's work is that the water in it solidifies in layers, not giving a chance for air to get inside. But this device is quite expensive
entertainment, and if you do not need a large amount of ice, you can do with improvised means.

Home Ways

Experienced bartenders know exactly how to make transparent ice at home, without the use of special equipment. There are several simple methods for this.

Method one

For this option, you will need to prepare:

• clean water, passed through a filter, or purchased in a store, but without gas;
• a container for boiling, such as a saucepan;
• forms for freezing.

Making ice using this method involves several steps:

1. Purify the water from excess salts and suspended matter or take already purified water.
2. Pour liquid into a container and boil.
3. Refrigerate it at room temperature.
4. Boil the water again - this will leave more air.
5. Cool the water, pass it through the filter.
6. Pour water cooled to room temperature into molds and freeze.

Important! Ice obtained in this way is more transparent than freezing ordinary water.

There is also a method in which you do not need to boil the water.

Method two

In order to make transparent ice at home without boiling, you will need:

• clean water (it is better to filter it several times or buy it);
• large capacity for freezing;
• molds for ice.

What to do with all this:

1. About two liters of clean water are frozen in a large container, after which the frozen block is taken out (the easiest way is to dip the bowl in warm water and turn it over on a lint-free towel).
2. Then you can break off the ice from the edges with something sharp, gradually getting to the muddy middle, which is not needed. There is also an option when the middle with air is washed out with water.
   Further, the mined chopped pieces are again laid out in forms, wait until it melts, and again sent to freeze until tender.

Method three

If the functions of the freezer allow it, slow freezing can be used. To do this, set the temperature in the chamber to -1, wait until the chamber picks it up, and put prepared water in the freezer. In this case, it is better to wrap the forms with cling film.

Important! Such a freeze lasts about a day, but then all the air will have time to completely leave the water, and the ice will turn out to be smooth and beautiful.

Method four

This option assumes the creation of a salty environment. First you need to prepare a saline solution from sea or ordinary table salt.

Steps to make clear ice:

1. Water is poured into the container and salt is added - the required concentration of the solution is achieved empirically, since the freezing conditions are different.
2. The salt must completely dissolve in the water.
3. Next, the container is placed in a freezer at a temperature of -1 or -2 degrees, but not lower.
4. After - you should wait about ten minutes, put molds filled with water in a salty solution.
5. This freeze will take about 12 hours.

Important! This method is considered to be the most effective. It also has the advantage that salt water can be kept in the freezer all the time, and the ice can be frozen as needed.

The listed methods will help you prepare crystal clear and beautiful ice for drinks, without bubbles. And it will definitely be no worse than in the coolest bars. If you don’t have an ice mold at hand, don’t worry, you can also make it yourself, at home.

Making an ice mold

There are a lot of ways how to make ice without a mold, it all depends on your
fantasy. Here are some interesting options:

1. If it is assumed that the drink will be consumed without mixing it in mixes or cocktails, then there is an option to immediately freeze the water in the container serving the drink. At the same time, please note that the dishes must be resistant to temperature extremes and compression from the cold. Also, its walls must be absolutely dry. For such a freeze, an amount of clean water is needed, poured onto the bottom of the dishes, and put in the freezer for a day at a temperature not higher than minus two degrees. Serving drinks in a transparent container, in addition to the necessary cooling, is also very unusual.
2. You can use plastic cups of various sizes to get frozen water in the form of rounds. Water must be poured only to the bottom, 0.5-1 cm high, and frozen. If you lay the bottom with plastic in half or in 4 parts, you can get ice in the form of halves or quarters of a circle, respectively.
3. Plastic bottle caps or metal caps are also interesting option capable of replacing molds for round ice... True, you may have difficulty getting it out of the caps.
4. If you don't need the same ice, you can use an assorted candy tray. Choose substrates that won't wrinkle or leak. As a result, you will get interesting shapes sweets.
5. There is also the option of using it as a form of a children's designer or molds for sand. Remember to rinse, degrease and disinfect any molds well before use.
6. A regular plastic bag can be easily converted into a freezer mold. Just pour some water into it, tie a knot, add more water, tie another knot, and so on, until the bag runs out. Of course, the form of freezing in this way will not be even, but if you follow the rules of preparation, then transparency and the absence of bubbles is guaranteed.

You can use any of the options you like or come up with your own to make transparent ice and shapes for it.

To make clear and pure ice, you need very little, but do not forget about additional recommendations:

1. Water absorbs odors well, so when cooking, make sure that there are no strong-smelling foods nearby.
2. You can also use a thermal bag for freezing. Just put the molds in the bag, and put them in the freezer at a temperature of about minus 8 degrees. The water will freeze in the opposite way - from top to bottom, which means that the air will come out of it in a different way. This ice may be a little cloudy on the top, but not in the middle. This means that if you leave the ice in a bowl for a while at room temperature, the cloudy water will melt.
3. When using boiling, it is better to take stainless steel dishes. Aluminum containers are not suitable for this method.
4. Do not pour hot water in plastic molds, and do not put cold water in the freezer. Otherwise, the mold may melt and the refrigerator may leak.
5. If you want to surprise your guests, make popsicles: beat the fruit with a blender and add juice, sugar or syrup to them. After - pour the mass into molds and freeze.
6. When serving ice without drinks the best option will use a special bucket - a cooler.
7. It is more convenient to take the ice with tongs, so it will not melt ahead of time.

At first glance, a banal situation: you approach a friend or relative and ask: “We need transparent ice. How to make sure that the cubes are not cloudy and in cracks, and even without the specific smell of the freezer? " The strangest thing is that in 99.9% of cases, in response, you will receive a recommendation to shove an ice cube tray into the freezer and wait a couple of hours, accompanied by a mocking look. Yes, yes, the interlocutor will always think that you have asked a funny and ridiculous question, the answer to which even a first grader knows. But he will remain in this happy confidence until he tries to make transparent ice himself. It seems that everyone knows and understands how to make ice cubes, but in practice, not everyone succeeds.

There is a problem

Any modern refrigerator in its standard configuration contains a tray for eggs and shelves of different calibers and purposes, as well as a miniature mold for freezing water. By the way, inventive housewives not only use it for its intended purpose, but also freeze fragrant herbs, berry, fruit and vegetable puree, which is then used to prepare a variety of dishes.

Such skill, however, does not mean at all that at least half of the experienced girls are aware of how to prepare the elementary component of cocktails and soft drinks - transparent ice. How to make it crystal clear and beautiful as it is served in bars, restaurants or shown on television?

The usual one always gives an unexpected and rather unsightly result. Cubes look unaesthetic, they contain inclusions of unknown origin, multiple chips and cracks, in addition, they have an uneven consistency.

An immutable condition

So what's the deal? Why is it so difficult to get clear ice at home? How to make it as clean as a tear, smooth and shiny? The answer to the question is quite simple: the cubes will then turn out perfect when conditions are favorable. There are several of them, and now we will tell about them.

First of all, the raw material from which you plan to make perfectly clear ice must also be ideal. What does this mean? It's simple: tap water is not right for us. It is rather difficult to determine the composition of the substance that is piped by utilities. Impurities of metals, chemicals and other nasty things during freezing do not allow water molecules to crystallize as expected, they break the initially clear structure of ice.

Secondly, liquids often contain air, small bubbles prevent the frozen water from becoming transparent and smooth. Hence the conclusion suggests itself: the water must be clean and not contain gases. It can become an ideal raw material, but doctors strongly do not recommend using it in the diet.

So how to make clear ice at home? First of all, you need to prepare the raw materials. For this purpose, drinking water purified in an industrial environment is suitable, but not mineral water enriched with salts and minerals, but a simple table and non-carbonated one. Boil the liquid before pouring it into the ice cube tray. During heating, air bubbles will evaporate from it, which greatly increases the level of transparency and purity of the ice. You can also use the water that flows from the tap, but it must be cleaned with a household filter, and then boiled as well. To achieve the maximum effect, the procedure can be repeated twice, that is, filter the water one by one, boil it, clean it again, and then bring it to a boil again.

Ice "revelry"

We figured out the quality of the water, but an equally important factor will be the creation of the correct microclimate for freezing. In general, this topic is most likely of concern to fans of soft drinks (different strength levels). Cloudy cubes in a glass of soda or alcohol are quite suitable for personal needs, then you don't really want to regale guests with such drinks, so the question of how to make transparent ice cubes is relevant for many people.

It has been observed empirically that ice then turns out to be cloudy and ugly when it freezes unevenly. To reduce the likelihood of temperature fluctuations, it is important to quickly freeze the water in a stable microclimate.

Here, the opinions of experts are somewhat different. Some argue that the faster ice forms, the more beautiful it will be, and for this, water must be placed in the freezer at the lowest possible value on the thermometer. Others, on the contrary, advise to set the thermostat to the -1 ° C position and let the water freeze in such conditions, the main thing is not to open the chamber in order to avoid the ingress of warm air from outside.

Celebration on a grand scale

Many readers may be interested in the question of how entertainment establishments manage to create a large number of ice cubes. How to make transparent ice so that it is enough for hundreds of visitors and guests? For this, special units are used - ice makers. With their help, you can freeze a lot of water, they maintain the optimum temperature inside the chamber, which makes the ice transparent.

But even when working with such a machine, it is important to observe certain conditions. In addition to the fact that the water quality must correspond to the specified parameters (the absence of impurities is required), the ice batch must be made simultaneously. That is, adding water to the cells while there are already finished cubes in the chamber will lead to a poor end result. It is best to use a liquid at room temperature: as practice shows, cooler water freezes unevenly, and the ice turns out to be cloudy.

Cold art

Last but not least, how do you make ice transparent at home if you need it for sculpture? Ice statues and figures are a splendid sight. Their creators, without exaggeration, can be called great masters of their craft. Some of them create magnificent masterpieces, work on their work for days on end in terrible conditions so that grateful viewers can enjoy the winter fairy tale.

But here's the problem: where to get blocks of ice of such colossal dimensions that huge sculptures could be carved out of them? Sometimes artificial ice is used for this, but it is very expensive, in addition, the blanks are made in standard sizes, which the sculptor does not always suit.

In winter, the most acceptable option would be to use natural ice, which is cut down in blocks right in water bodies. This is a rather dangerous fishing, because there is always a serious danger of being under the ice, and you have to work in special clothes so as not to get wet.

As you can see, the chances of making a lump yourself - at home, in the freezer - are extremely small. In winter, of course, you can freeze ice in any container, if the air temperature allows it, but with some reservations.

To create ice masterpieces, you must use a solid block of uniform consistency. Loose ice will quickly crumble and melt, and this will not make it possible to carve a beautiful sculpture.

Working in too cold weather is not only difficult, but also dangerous - the ice freezes so much that during processing very hard and sharp fragments fly off from it, which can easily get injured. In addition, it will not work to glue together several parts of the product with the help of water - it will freeze too quickly, and a warm liquid can cause an explosion of the entire composition due to a sharp temperature drop.

You can create ice blocks yourself using special freezers. They are imported and domestically produced. The advantage of Russian freezers is the ability to order a custom-made camera.

Before making ice, you need to thoroughly study this process and its nuances. It is not enough just to pour water into special forms and send them to the freezer. To make a transparent and beautiful product that will decorate cocktails, you will have to try a lot. And yet, contrary to popular belief, this does not require the use of any special refrigerators.

Everything can be done with your own hands with minimal financial and energy costs. The main thing is not to be afraid to experiment and not to stop if the first attempts fail.

Secrets of clear ice for drinks

Those who want to learn how to make real ice for drinks with their own hands, and not just cloudy pieces of frozen water, should adopt the following approaches:

• Use of pretreated water. Pour the liquid into an enamel or steel dish, bring to a boil and let it boil for a few minutes. After that, cover with a lid and leave to cool naturally. We repeat the manipulation and once again cool the composition. Then we fill in the ice molds and freeze the blanks. With this approach, the filler for cocktails is transparent due to the removal of air bubbles.

• Slow freezer. It is possible to displace bubbles that give the product turbidity if the product is not frozen quickly, but very slowly. The final version will not only be transparent, but also very smooth. True, the time for making ice in this case is at least a day. To carry out manipulations in the freezer, you need to set the temperature not higher and not lower than -1 ° C.

• Freeze in salt water. This method also makes it possible to prepare transparent and beautiful ice without cracks. Ideally, you should use sea salt, but if you don't have it, you can make the mixture yourself. To do this, do not completely fill a deep bowl with water, add fine table salt and stir well (unfortunately, the concentration of the composition will have to be determined empirically). We put the container in the freezer, the temperature in it should not be lower than -2 ° C. As soon as the liquid cools down a lot, put the filled ice molds into it and put it back in the freezer until cubes form. If the liquid in the bowl begins to freeze, this indicates an insufficient amount of salt, the solution will have to be redone.

Tip: In general, whichever approach to ice making is used, you should take drinking or filtered water. Otherwise, the unpleasant smell will go away only for a while. As soon as the product enters the drink and begins to melt, the specific aroma returns, which noticeably spoils the taste of cocktails.

Experienced housewives prefer to prepare ice at home according to the last instructions. It turns out transparent, even, without cracks, does not crack when adding cocktails and other drinks. It is enough to prepare the saline solution only once. It can be poured into a convenient container and kept in the freezer at all times.

How to make ice without special ice trays?

The lack of molds is not a problem if you have imagination. You can make them yourself or even adapt the tools at hand. The variant of the approach and the peculiarities of its implementation depend on the type of drink used and what is at hand:

1. If you plan to serve not cocktails, but simply pour one-component drinks, you should take care of the dishes in advance. To do this, we take the selected glasses (preferably made of thick glass, it will not crack from exposure to cold air), pour boiled drinking water into them about 1 cm, wipe thoroughly so that there is no moisture on the surface. Next, carefully place the containers in the freezer (the temperature is -1 ° C), trying not to spill anything on the walls. The finished ice will not only be beautiful and will perform the assigned functions, but will also give the spilled drinks an original look.
2. It is very easy to make ice with your own hands using plastic or metal lids. The first ones are better to hew them inside in advance so that the thread does not interfere with the extraction of the product. The main secret process consists in the fact that the liquid is poured to the maximum, and reaches the very edge. In this case, it will expand, protrude above the surface and it will be easier to get the pieces. You just need to keep them at room temperature for a few minutes to melt.
3. One of the easiest ice making options is to use plastic cups. Pour the previously prepared water to the bottom, determine the thickness on our own, but remember that the mass will expand further. Freeze the product and carefully remove it. It is not necessary to stop at the round "cubes", if you insert self-made plastic dividers inside the cup, the shape can be adjusted.
4. It is worth looking around in the kitchen and in the rooms, in most cases something can be adapted for making ice. These are the details of the children's designer, and candy tabs, and Silicone forms for baking. Only improvised means must be thoroughly disinfected before use.

If time is short, and you can't cook something worthwhile with your own hands, you need to limit yourself to the most simple option... We take plastic bags, cut them into shreds, fill the blanks with a small amount of water and tie them in a knot. We will get small neat balls that will look very original in a glass.