Simple syrup is, as it’s name suggests, very easy to make and will last a month in the fridge. We stick to simple syrup over using sugar cubes or superfine sugar.Since posting this in 2015, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. Recipe updated, originally posted May 2015. It is actually one of the ice balls seen in our Old Fashioned photo below. ![]() Even though the ice isn’t 100% clear it is considerably better than the cloudy (and cracked) ice ball. In the photo above, Adam is holding the clear ice ball on the left and an ice ball made by simply filling the mold and freezing on the right. Place the mug with mold into the freezer and do not disturb until completely frozen.Simply suck out the water until the water is at the correct level. Holding the sphere in place, pour out excess water in the mug so that the water line is at the same level as the small plastic container inside the mug.Don’t remove your finger until the hole is completely submerged in the water. Invert it so that the hole is facing down then carefully place the mold into the mug with water. Using your finger, cover the hole so that no air can enter the mold.Remove the stopper that comes with it (this stopper would cover the hole used to fill the mold). Fill the mug with water so that the water line is above the small container inside the mug.We used a small Rubbermaid container and an inexpensive mug found online. ![]() Place a small container inside an insulated mug.Here are the steps for doing it (or watch us do it at the end of the video above): We use our tap water - since we have found it freeze quite clear using this method. The tap water in the last home we had did not produce clear cubes so we found that it was best to use filtered or boiled water. After some research, we found this tutorial for making clear ice balls using an insulated mug. We went the more DIY, budget-friendly route. So how do you make clear ice cubes? There are quite a few gadgets you can buy online. In other words, the clearer ice cubes are, the less dilution your cocktail will need to endure. This all matters because cloudier ice cubes are less dense so they melt much quicker and break apart easier than clearer ice cubes. Worse still, if you use the sphere mold, the water freezes in such a way that when you add the sphere to your drink, it has a very high chance of breaking into pieces. The problem is that if you just add water and freeze, you will be left with cloudy ice. ![]() I’m sure you’ve seen various large ice cube molds like this sphere mold (what we have). None of this is required for your cocktail, but since we used two of his ice balls in our photo and considering we’ve already bonded over our love of the Old Fashioned, I thought I’d take a shot at explaining what we’ve learned. Since we’ve gotten into making Old Fashioned cocktails at home, Adam dorked out a little and looked into the how and why of clear, large ice cubes. The flavor and aroma of the drink really changes and while we don’t do this all the time, it’s fun to experience the difference. (See our video above to see it in action) If you do all of this close to or over the glass, a toasted orange aroma will fall down over the drink. We don’t add the flamed peel to the drink, but rubbing the flamed peel around the rim of the glass is a nice touch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |