The scorching summer sun and high humidity greatly exhaust the body. One of the salvations from overheating is soft drinks. This summer I added ice everywhere: to water, to lemonade, to tea, to compote. And I think this is not the last summer like this.

But only recently, having bought a cola in fast food and looking under its lid, I remembered the beautiful transparent ice, which I've never been able to do. To be honest, there was no particular desire. Having decided to find out, using world-famous search engines, how to freeze clear ice, I was surprised by the results I received. I should have just talked less in physics lessons.

Scientific explanation

In terms of its composition, transparent ice is water without air bubbles. They are the ones who give rise to this cloudiness in the cube, which is always located in the center of the ice mass. This happens due to the gradual freezing of the liquid, starting from the walls. The layers of water freeze one after another and push air towards the center. When the accumulation of bubbles begins to freeze, it turns white, cloudy. It follows from this that we need to get rid of the air. This can be achieved by boiling. However, in this case, the ice may not be completely transparent, because some percentage of air will remain in the water. Another option is to buy an ice freezing machine. Its technology involves freezing water in layers. Thus, the air does not freeze inside the ice. But if you do not need so much frozen water, and the extra money can be spent for other purposes, we offer two main methods, after studying which it will become clear: how to make clear ice with minimal costs.

Method No. 1

To make clear ice at home, you will need water, a saucepan and molds. You need to take spring water and, preferably, pass it through a filter. Drinking water without gas, which has already undergone a purification procedure, is also suitable. This is done to remove minerals and salts from the composition. The whole process consists of 4 main stages:
1. Pass the water through a filter for deeper purification.
2. Boil water in a saucepan and cool.
3. Boil it again to effectively remove air bubbles.
4. Pour into molds and freeze.
Between the second and third stages, the liquid can be filtered again. In the end, you will get a fairly transparent frozen mass. Turbidity depends on how well the air molecules are “knocked out” at high temperatures.

Method No. 2

In this case, you do not need to boil water and “boil out” the air. Several liters of clean (drinking) water must be poured into a deep container, preferably metal. Place all this in the freezer and, better yet, wrap it in cling film. Ice absorbs odors very strongly, so it is worth preventing this process. After freezing the water, you need to remove it from the bowl. To do this, you can wash it with water, then it will fall out easily. Place the lump on a waffle towel and use a screwdriver to carefully break off a piece at a time, starting from the edges. Taek you will get to the muddy middle, which we do not use. Of course, the pieces will turn out unequal and uneven. But the ice obtained this way will definitely be crystal clear. You can wash the white center under running water, which will take longer. But this way all the romance of getting ice is lost.

Having learned how to make ice at home, you can now please yourself and your loved ones not only with a cool drink, but also with an aesthetically beautiful one. And in any culinary process this is important. Just remember that ice absorbs the smell of food very strongly, so it is better to prepare it fresh every time.

We recently tried making fruit ice in a drink, you can see the recipe, it turned out very tasty and original. Making homemade fruit ice is also not difficult, all you need is fruit puree, berry juice and, if desired, sugar syrup. You can grind any fruits and berries in a blender, then put them in special ice trays and freeze. Try it, the result will surprise you.

Crushed ice is frozen water, specially crushed for the purpose of quickly cooling something. This ice is used not only in industry and cooking, but also for some cosmetic procedures.

There are several types of ice: dry, crushed, cubed. Each type has its own differences. So, ice cubes melt very slowly, they are suitable for making cocktails, and they are also mixed in a shaker with the rest of the ingredients. The most common is crushed ice, which is obtained using special tools.

In industrial conditions, both food and technical ice are produced using special ice generators. Ice makers can produce from 10 to 400 kg of ice per day. Bartenders use ice crushers for this purpose. It is not advisable to buy such a device for home use. Although, if you live in a private house and you often have guests, why not surprise them with such a miracle machine? Moreover, It is recommended to prepare about 1 kg of ice per guest.

Crushed ice is stored in a small bucket. It melts faster than in cubes, which means it cools the contents of the glass faster. Ice can be purchased in a store or ordered for home delivery. Ice for food purposes must be clean, free from impurities and odor.

Use in cooking

In cooking, crushed ice is often used to make cocktails. Using ice, you can prepare alcoholic, non-alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks.

Ice can be obtained by freezing not only ordinary water, but also juices.

Any cocktail with the addition of ice will become not only tastier, but also more attractive. Those who like to throw cocktail parties will especially need crushed ice. After all, it is included in more than 85% of cocktails.

When making ice, it is important to use only high-quality purified water or fresh juices. Thanks to the use of crushed ice, drinks remain cold for a long time, they have invigorating properties, are perfectly refreshing in the summer heat, and quench thirst. Few people know how to use ice correctly. Bartenders recommend filling glasses with ice to the top; it should occupy the entire space of the glass. After all, if there is not enough ice, it will quickly turn into water, and the cocktail itself will not cool down, and its taste will be spoiled.

Ice is also necessary to prepare the drink in a special cocktail glass. First, cool the glass and fill it to the top with crushed ice. The glass can be used when it is covered with frost, after which the ice is shaken out.

You can only use fresh ice; there is no point in defrosting and re-freezing it.

How to do it?

You can make crushed ice at home. Edible ice is small pieces of ice in the form of cubes. Simply put, ice is nothing more than water in a crystalline state. Ice is prepared from purified water using an ice maker.

At home, you can prepare it in the freezer by pouring water into a special form for making ice. This form is a plastic structure with small cells. Once the ice freezes, it will need to be removed. To do this, you need to bend the freezing container a little until all the pieces of ice fall out. Ice is placed in a bag. You can crush the ice using a regular wooden hammer. Ice should be crushed very carefully so as not to damage the bag. If you don't have a hammer, you can use any blunt object. Place a plastic bag of ice on a wooden board and gently crush it with a hammer.

You can also make crushed ice using a method known as a Lewis pack. It is a bag for storing coins. The Lewis pack is very inexpensive and makes a lot of ice. The container for freezing ice is bent, as in the previous method, until all the ice cubes fall out. The ice is placed in a Lewis bag and crushed with a wooden mallet. If you don't have this bag, you can use a clean pillowcase. The Lewis Pack is ideal for crushing large quantities of ice. What is the difference between crushing ice in a regular plastic bag and a Lewis bag? A plastic bag contains enough ice to make several servings of cocktails. A Lewis bag holds much more, so it is used when a large company is expected.

Ice made using a Lewis bag is ideal for cocktails and is also drier.

The most popular way homemade ice is to use a food processor or blender.

Place ice cubes in a food processor or blender, set it to pulsate mode and crush the ice to the desired size.

Ice can also be crushed in a shaker, where it is shaken until the walls are covered with frost.

The benefits and harms of crushed ice

Ice at proper preparation will not cause harm to the body.

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To prepare ice for a drink, you can use ordinary forms, which are placed in a regular refrigerator, and to make ice in large quantities, you can use a special unit called an ice maker.

Although few people know this, ice can be made in several categories and varieties:

• Food. This type of ice appears in the form of individual pieces of ice, shaped like small cylinders or cubes. Most often made using an ice maker from filtered drinking water. This type of ice is used as a cooler for alcoholic and soft drinks or cocktails.
• Lump. It is prepared in the form of pieces of different shapes and is added both to cool the liquid and to add beauty to the alcoholic cocktails. In this category, ice can also be divided into cups, cubes and nuggets.
• Chipped. This type of ice is usually used at presentations and exhibitions to keep drinks and food cool. This ice has the form of crushed pieces that have an irregular shape. This type of ice is also used in bars and restaurants for preparing cocktails in a shaker. You can prepare crushed ice at home, by breaking chunks of ice with a kitchen hammer and using a cloth so that the fragments do not fly away. Because crushed ice melts much faster than other varieties, it is prepared right before use.

• Ice Frappe. This name is given to finely crushed or shaved ice, which is used to prepare cocktails with the addition of fruit, cruchons, Mojitos, and other drinks that are usually drunk through a straw.
• Granulated. This type of ice has the shape of small hailstones, approximately 1 cm in diameter. This ice is easy to store, it does not freeze and mixes quickly with the product and never damages its soft tissues. Most often, such ice is used to serve wine, champagne and some types of dishes on an ice bed.
• Ice cubes Fancy. This sonorous name was given to ice cubes in which a variety of candied fruits are frozen. Such cubes can also be made from coffee or tea, and if preparing a cocktail involves using juice, berries or mint leaves, then all this can be frozen in Fancy ice cubes.
• Color. This ice is used not only to cool drinks, but also to create them. original design, design or decorate a glass. Juices, lemonades and cocktails are usually served with this ice, although it can be used for any other purpose at the user’s request. To obtain colored ice, fruit and berry juices are used, which have different colors, and in addition, such ice cubes have a pleasant original taste. In order to give the ice greater originality, layer-by-layer freezing is sometimes used, then each ice cube has an impressive and beautiful appearance.
• Fried. Despite the unusual and controversial name, this ice is quite simple to prepare. To do this, small pieces of fruit are frozen in the freezer and then beaten egg white and make meringues the diameter of a tennis ball. A piece of ice is pressed into it, after which it is doused with cognac and set on fire. has time to burn before the ice melts, and the meringue turns out toasted, maintaining a cool and refreshing effect, with ice inside.

Today, in order to make any type of ice, you can use an ice maker or a wide variety of freezing molds, which are usually made of plastic or food-grade silicone.

Home methods

Experienced bartenders know exactly how to make clear 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 boiling container, such as a saucepan;
• forms for freezing.

Making ice using this method involves several steps:

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

Important! Ice obtained in this way is more transparent than freezing ordinary water. There is also a method that does not require boiling water.

There is also a method that does not require boiling water.

Method two

In order to make clear 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;
• ice molds.

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 removed (the easiest way is to dip the bowl in warm water and turn it over onto a lint-free towel).
2. Then you can chip off the ice from the edges with something sharp, gradually getting to the cloudy middle, which is not needed. There is also an option when the middle with air is washed out with water. Next, the extracted chopped pieces are again laid out in molds, waited until it melts, and again sent to freeze until ready.

Method three

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

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

Method four

This option involves creating a salty environment. First you need to prepare a saline solution from sea or regular 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 experimentally, since freezing conditions are different.
2. The salt should completely dissolve in the water.
3. Next, the container is placed in the freezer at a temperature of -1 or -2 degrees, but not lower.
4. Afterwards, you should wait about ten minutes and place the molds filled with water in the salty solution.
5. This freezing will take about 12 hours.

Important! This method is considered the most effective. Another advantage is that salt water can be kept in the freezer constantly, and 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 on hand, don’t worry, you can also make it yourself, at home.

How to get clear ice

In fact, everything is simple - ordinary physics:

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

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

The question “How to make ice at home?” makes many people smile. After all, what could be easier than pouring water into molds and putting it in the freezer?! Just what to do if you don’t have an ice cube tray on hand or it’s cracked? And for some reason the ice in restaurants and in the photos is transparent, but at home it turns out white and cloudy. Of course, restaurants use ice makers, but at home you can do without them and prepare a small amount clear ice in the freezer. We'll tell you in detail how to do this.

How to make clear ice

Why does ordinary ice have a heterogeneous structure and white crystals in the center? The answer is simple: because of the composition of the water from which we prepare it. Everyone knows that water can be hard or soft, and different substances can be dissolved in it. It is salts, gases and other impurities in the process of freezing water that form large white crystals in pieces of ice and change its color.

Only non-carbonated purified water with minimal hardness can form transparent ice when frozen. If you prepare ice correctly, it will have no taste or smell, and will melt about 40-50% slower. How to prepare it:

1. Take purified water for baby food Based on the calculation that each guest needs 500-600 grams of ready-made ice.
2. Pour water into an enamel or stainless steel pan, bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, turn off the gas, cover with a lid and let cool.
3. Repeat boiling again, cool under the lid to room temperature. This way you will get rid of gases dissolved in water.

Pour the prepared water into molds and cover them with cling film and place in the freezer until completely frozen.

A few important details:

• The freezer compartment must be clean to prevent bacteria from getting into the ice and unpleasant odors from being absorbed. Do not store ice in fish or meat containers.
• To avoid the formation of bubbles, pour water in three stages - first to the bottom, then to the middle, and only then to the edge of the mold, allowing each layer to harden completely. You can also use the slow freezing method for this purpose (temperature -1 Celsius for 24 hours).
• You can also freeze hot water(without covering with film), taking into account the quality of the mold material and the power of the freezer.
• Ice can be stored indefinitely.

How to make ice without molds

You can use any form to make ice except glass - the glass will simply burst when freezing water expands. You can remove the finished ice from a mold of any size and material if you slightly heat the mold itself from the outside. If you don't have a special ice tray, you can use:

• plastic glasses
• plastic or metal lids
• silicone molds for miniature cupcakes or sweets
• chocolate box insert
• small plastic bags
• parts of a large Lego set and other plastic toys

All these form options need to be processed before use. New plastic bags and plastic cups do not need to be washed, but it is better to wipe children's toys with alcohol.

How to make crushed ice

In Asian countries, they even prepare desserts from crushed ice by pouring it over it. fruit juices and syrups. Special equipment is used to crush ice. But it’s unlikely that anyone would install such a thing at home just for crushing ice. Therefore, you can use other methods to prepare small portions of crushed ice.

1. Use manual crusher. This will take a lot of time and effort, but there will be little ice.
2. Take advantage food processor or blender: container with S-shaped knife, pulsation mode. It will be noisy, but everything will work out provided the device has normal power and sharp knives.
3. The best method is to put the ice in a thick kitchen towel, wrap it tightly and smash it directly into the towel. ice hammer(or a clean meat mallet). Use a flatter surface. We do not recommend using a plastic bag - the ice will simply tear it and fly apart.

It would seem that it could be simpler: fill the molds with tap water and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours. But the result is a substance milky, often having an unpleasant chlorine odor. To prevent this from happening, we will look at the correct technology for making ice at home in the form of transparent cubes or crushed pieces. The only equipment you need is a freezer; even molds can be replaced with improvised containers.

Theory. Homemade ice turns cloudy due to gases (including oxygen), mineral salts and other impurities contained in the water. The gases form tiny bubbles that, when frozen, form crystals that are too large. Heavy metal salts act in a similar way. Only purified, degassed water of low hardness provides complete transparency.

Properly made ice is not only clear, colorless and tasteless, it also takes 30-50% longer to melt. As a result, the drink is less diluted with water.

The difference between conventional freezing and the proposed technology

Ingredient:

• water (purified or distilled) – 1 liter.

Depending on the number and variety of drinks, an average of 600-800 grams of ice is required per party participant.

Homemade Ice Recipe

1. Pass ordinary water from a tap or well (well) through a filter for purification, preferably with reverse osmosis, removing minerals and salts as much as possible. The harder the water, the better the cleaning should be. If there is no filter, it is better to purchase bottled water for children that has undergone additional softening.

The ideal option is distilled water, which you can buy at a pharmacy or make yourself by distilling ordinary water into moonshine still any design.

Advice. Make sure your freezer and ice trays are free of odors. For example, you cannot make ice in a compartment where meat or fish is stored open.

2. Pour the prepared water into any clean non-aluminum pan and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. After 2-3 minutes, cover with a lid.

3. Cool the water to room temperature, then bring to a boil again, cover and cool to 20-25°C. Double boiling is guaranteed to remove any remaining oxygen and other gases, leaving the ice clear.

4. Pour water into molds, cover with cling film (preferably) on top and place in the freezer. If there are no special molds, they can be replaced with disposable cups or bottoms from plastic bottles.

The bottom is suitable for cubes; in the neck you can freeze ice for crushing

To make it easier to add ice cubes to a glass, I advise you to pour water in a layer no higher than 5-6 cm.

5. Freezing time depends on the temperature in the freezer and the volume of the molds. If a bubble is visible in the center of the cube, the ice is not ready yet.

To speed up cooking, you can freeze the initially hot water without wrapping the exposed surface in cling film. The main thing is not to melt the mold material.

To make homemade ice without bubbles inside, you will have to freeze the water in a couple of batches: first pour only to the bottom (1-2 cm layer), after hardening, add to half the mold, leave for a couple of hours in the freezer, pour in the remaining water and wait until completely frozen .

6. Remove the finished cubes from the mold by slightly bending the plastic base. Best before date homemade ice unlimited in the freezer.

How to make crushed ice

7. Place the cubes obtained in the previous step into a durable plastic bag. Gently crush the ice to the desired size of crystals with a wooden mallet or any other blunt kitchen utensil, such as a rolling pin. Strike smoothly and not very hard, trying not to tear the bag.

Attention! Before crushing, protect your eyes and face from individual pieces of ice.

An alternative is to grind the cubes in a food processor or blender on the pulsing setting.

It is very easy to get injured when crushing by hand!