How to make ice at home without special tools (cubes and crushed). How to make clear ice

It's time to think about how to save yourself from the heat: summer is inexorably approaching! Cold drinks and neat ice cubes provide real bliss on days when everything around is melting under the sun. But, believe me, you can freeze not only water! Surely this post will be a discovery for you - in order to think of such a use of ice molds, you need to try your best. Hang these wonderful ideas on the honor board of your memory and use them with pleasure!

1. Freeze coffee and add it to milk. delicious milkshake ready in a couple of minutes! For lovers of sweets, one more idea: you can freeze condensed milk!

2. Freeze leftover wine. At any time you can prepare marinara sauce, red wine sauce and other delights, which include wine.

3. Frozen yogurt is a great hot weather treat. Good idea save yogurt with a short shelf life for future use.

4. Apricot or peach puree is easy to freeze. It will brighten up any dessert!

5. Pieces of watermelon straight from the freezer! Mmm …

6. Frozen flowers? How did I not think of this before ... It looks stunning.

7. It's hard to imagine something more seductive: chocolate-covered frozen strawberries.

8. Frozen sweet syrup grenadine goes well with champagne and sweet alcoholic cocktails.

9. Orange and grapefruit juice seem to be made to freeze. In the heat it is so nice to drink water with citrus aroma!

10. Edible gum arabic glitter is a great decoration for different dishes and cocktails. And if you freeze them...

12. Frozen aloe juice will be a cosmetic salvation in the heat: it tones and cools the skin by 100%!

13. Freeze smoothies out different berries and fruits. An ambulance when it's hot and hungry!

14. Flowers that can be eaten are frozen flowers.

15. Freeze chocolate and add it to cocktails too.

16. Mojito is always on hand: freeze lime or lemon juice and mint.

17. Colorful ice cream cubes are a chic addition to a regular milkshake.

Recently I came across a site with photos original forms for ice. I really wanted to make one for myself. These forms can be made independently from silicone sealant.

And so we need: some kind of container for the form (I took a box from under the Japanese grub), silicone sealant, gasoline, soap and actually models of future ice cubes.

We install the models in the tank. We fasten to the bottom with a little lubrication with the same sealant.

Doing soap solution. You can use liquid soap diluted in water in a ratio of 1:1.

Lubricate our mold and models with soap. This is necessary so that the finished form can be easily separated. Do not forget that silicone sealant is also an adhesive. Let the soap dry.

Next, we prepare the composition for applying the first layer. To do this, dilute the sealant with gasoline to a jelly-like state. Silicone sealant smells like vinegar, and it can be tempting to dilute it with essence. Under no circumstances should this be done. By the way, the sealant diluted in gasoline is a wonderful thing. They can soak the fabric and make it waterproof. In our case, this first layer is needed in order to copy the smallest details. I even copied the inscription Lego on each bump. If you immediately pile the sealant from the tube, then bubbles and voids can form in the mold.

After the first layer dries, fill the form with undiluted sealant. Each layer should not be thicker than 3-4 mm. Otherwise, the silicone inside will not harden.

Remove, rinse, fill with water and freeze.

Ready. It is better to take water not immediately from the tap, but from the filter and settled. Then there will be no bubbles in the ice cubes and the ice will be transparent.

From the outside it seems that there is nothing easier than making ice for cocktails, especially with special molds. In practice, everything is not so rosy - before you make ice, you will have to study important nuances process. Otherwise clean and transparent ingredient for alcohol or soft drinks will look like a cloudy gray substance.

Quite often, housewives have a question about how to make ice at home if there is no suitable form at hand. Fans of experiments and creativity have developed several solutions for this case that will help you achieve the desired result with your own hands.

Secrets that will allow you to get transparent ice without bubbles

Frozen water and ice for cocktails are two completely different things. Contrary to the promises of the manufacturers of ice making equipment, it is not enough to pour water into the mold and put it in the refrigerator. Only when carrying out pre-training the final product can be expected to be transparent and attractive.

There are several production methods quality ice do it yourself:

• Processed water. Pour water into a steel or enameled container (most importantly, not aluminum) and bring to a boil. After the liquid boils for several minutes, cool it naturally. Then boil water again and cool again. In the intervals between boiling, do not forget to cover the container with a lid, preventing dust from settling. After processing, pour water into molds and freeze. This approach allows you to get clear ice due to the fact that the air bubbles are removed, and the water molecules fit closer to each other.

Tip: Regardless of the type of ice making approach, professionals recommend always using filtered or drinking water. Otherwise bad smell will leave only for a while and will be revealed in in full after hitting the cube in the drink.

• Slow freeze. If the time and capabilities of the refrigeration unit allow, then you need to set the temperature to -1ºС. We wait until the temperature rises to the desired one and set the molds in the chamber with water spilled over them. Additionally, it is recommended to wrap the device cling film. The exposure time is at least a day. The slow expulsion of the bubbles as the liquid cools ensures that the ice is clear and even.
• Freezing in a salty environment. Someone suggests using to prepare the base sea ​​water, but if this option is not possible, you can prepare a salty environment with your own hands. True, it will be possible to achieve ideal concentration only by experience. Practice shows that with this approach, one can hope for the desired result even when tap water is frozen. Pour water into a bowl, add salt, stir. We remove the container in the freezer, the temperature should not be lower than -2ºС. After the liquid becomes very cold, lower the ice molds filled with water into it and put it back in the freezer.

The last option is considered the most correct and preferred. In the course of such processing, ice cubes become not only transparent, but also even, without cracks and streaks. All harmful particles will be expelled, so the elements after entering the drink will not cause an unpleasant odor. Additional advantage approach is that salt water can be kept in the freezer permanently (provided that the set temperature is maintained) and reused.

How to make ice without an ice mold - an affordable creative

It is not necessary to have special molds at home or design them with your own hands in order to prepare beautiful and original ice. If you wish, you can find many worthy ways out of the situation:

• If we are talking not about making cocktails, but about serving one-component drinks, then you can make ice immediately in glasses. To do this, you need suitable dishes that can withstand temperatures of -1ºС. Just pour a little chilled drinking or boiled water and put in the freezer for slow freezing. Be sure to make sure that the rest of the container is completely dry. This method allows you to achieve the necessary cooling, and the drink itself in the glass gives an unusual look.
• To freeze water, you can use plastic cups with a bottom of various diameters. Pour the liquid no more than a centimeter and freeze as usual. The output will be original round pieces of ice. They can even be divided into halves or quarters, if you initially lay them with pieces of plastic cut with your own hands from unnecessary bottles.
• Some people manage to make ice with lids. They can be made of plastic or metal, twisted or rolled. The only difficulty is that when removing ice from such products, it is difficult not to damage it.
• If desired, you can adapt parts of the Lego constructor as blanks or silicone molds. You just need to thoroughly disinfect them before use.
• In the most extreme case, you will have to do with plastic bags. We cut them into large flaps or initially take packages of a very small volume. Pour water into them and twist them into balls of various sizes. Put in a bowl and freeze according to the rules.

In addition, you can come up with other no less original variants ice making. The main thing is to act according to the rules, then the components will become a real decoration of the drinks served.

For any holiday, you want to surprise guests and make dishes and drinks not only tasty, but also beautiful. And the simplest and affordable option decorate them - serve original ice. It can be made different in shape, color, size, but most main nuance in such a seemingly simple matter - to take high-quality water and properly prepare it. Then and beautiful presentation dishes, drinks 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 cloudy when frozen.

Why is this happening? When freezing, the liquid solidifies unevenly, but starting from the edge. Therefore, layer after layer of water accumulates all the air in the center. And when the air has nowhere to get out, and the center begins to freeze, that very muddy middle appears. Therefore, to make ice transparent, air must be removed from it. There are several options for this.

Ice maker - professional option

You can always buy special device for freezing water, which is used in most bars. Today there are many various options ice makers - from simple home models to large professional ones.

The essence of the device is that the water in it freezes in layers, preventing air from getting inside. But this device is quite expensive.
entertainment, and if you do not need in large numbers ice, you can do with improvised means.

home methods

Experienced bartenders know exactly how to make clear ice at home, without using special equipment. To do this, there are several simple methods.

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;
• freezing molds.

Creating ice with this method involves several steps:

1. Purify water from excess salts and weigh or take already purified.
2. Pour the liquid into a container and boil.
3. Cool it down at room temperature.
4. Boil water again - so more air will go away.
5. Cool the water, pass it through the filter.
6. Pour in cooled room temperature water into 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.

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 pure water 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 on a lint-free towel).
2. Then you can break off the ice from the edges with something sharp, gradually getting to the muddy center, which is not needed. There is also an option when the middle with air is washed out with water.
   Next, the extracted split pieces are again laid out in molds, wait until it melts, and are again sent to freeze until cooked.

Method three

If the freezer functions allow, slow freezing can be used. To do this, you need to set the temperature in the chamber to -1, wait until the camera dials it, and put the 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 get out of the water, and the ice will turn out to be even and beautiful.

Method Four

This option involves creating a salty environment. First you need to prepare 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. Salt must be completely dissolved in water.
3. Next, the container is placed in freezer at a temperature of -1 or -2 degrees, but not lower.
4. After - you should wait about ten minutes, put in saline solution molds filled with water.
5. This freezing will occur for about 12 hours.

Important! This method is considered the most efficient. Also, its advantage is that salt water can be kept in the freezer all the time, and ice can be frozen as needed.

These methods will help you make crystal clear and beautiful ice for drinks, without bubbles. And it will definitely be no worse than in the most cool 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 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 drink serving dish. At the same time, please note that the dishes must be resistant to temperature changes and compression from the cold. Also, its walls must be absolutely dry. For such a freezing, it is necessary to pour an amount of pure water onto the bottom of the dish, and put it in the freezer for a day at a temperature not higher than minus two degrees. Serving drinks in transparent containers, in addition to the necessary cooling, is also very unusual.
2. To get frozen water in the form of rounds, you can take plastic glasses of various sizes. Water must be poured only on the bottom, 0.5-1 cm high, and frozen. If you lay the bottom with plastic in half or 4 parts, you can get ice in the form of halves or quarters of a circle, respectively.
3. Plastic bottle caps or metal lids- Also interesting option capable of replacing molds for round ice. True, you may have difficulty obtaining it from the covers.
4. If the same ice is not needed, you can use the substrate from assorted sweets. Choose those substrates that will not wrinkle or leak. As a result, you will get interesting shapes sweets.
5. There is also an option to use as a form of a children's designer or sand molds. Be sure to thoroughly rinse, degrease and sanitize any of the molds before use.
6. Ordinary plastic bag easy to turn into a freezer mold. Just pour some water into it, tie a knot, pour more water, tie another knot, and so on until the bag is finished. Of course, the form of freezing in this way will not be even, but if you follow the rules for preparation, then transparency and the absence of bubbles are guaranteed.

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

To make clear and clean ice, you need quite a bit, 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 thermo bag for freezing. Just put the mold in the bag, and put it 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. Such ice may be a little cloudy on top, but not in the middle. This means that if you leave ice in a bowl for a short time at room temperature, 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. Don't 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, do fruit ice: Blend fruits 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 - cooler.
7. It is more convenient to take ice with tongs, so it will not melt ahead of time.

The question "How to make ice at home?" makes many people smile. After all, what could be easier than taking water into molds and putting it in the freezer?! But what to do if you do not have an ice cube mold on hand or is it cracked? Yes, and the ice in restaurants and in the photo for some reason is transparent, but at home it turns out white and cloudy. Of course, the restaurant uses ice makers, but at home you can do without them and cook a small amount of clear ice in the freezer. We will tell you in detail how to do it.

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 and soft, 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 a minimum hardness can form transparent ice when frozen. If the ice is prepared correctly, it will have neither taste nor smell, and it will melt slowly by about 40-50%. How to cook it:

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

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

A few important details:

• The freezer must be kept clean to prevent bacteria from getting into the ice and bad odors to be absorbed. Do not store ice in the fish and meat container.
• 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 completely dry. Also for this purpose, you can apply the method of slow freezing (temperature -1 Celsius during the day).
• You can also freeze hot water (without covering it with a 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 for making ice except glass - the glass will simply burst when the freezing water expands. You can take out the finished ice from a mold of any size and material, if you slightly heat the mold itself from the outside. If you do not have a special ice mold, you can use:

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

All of these forms must be processed before use. New plastic bags and plastic cups do not need to be washed, but children's toys are best wiped with alcohol.

How to make crushed ice

Desserts are even prepared from crushed ice in Asian countries, pouring it over fruit juices and syrups. For crushing ice, special devices are used. But at home, such a thing only for crushing ice is unlikely to be installed by anyone. Therefore, you can use other methods for cooking small portions 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-blade, pulse mode. It will be noisy, but everything will work out under the condition of the normal power of the device and sharp knives.
3. Most best method: put ice in a thick kitchen towel, wrap it up properly and break it right into the towel ice hammer(or a clean meat mallet). use it more flat surface. We do not recommend using a plastic bag - the ice will simply tear it and scatter to the sides.