30-07-2025
The Sneaky Way Your Freezer Is Ruining Your Drink
Ice absorbs the flavors and smells around it, which might explain the garlic notes in your Old Takeaways
Ice is highly porous and absorbs nearby odors, so stash cubes in resealable bags and keep any uncovered or strongly scented foods out of the freezer to prevent off-flavors in cocktails.
Replace stored ice every couple of weeks, and wash trays with mild dish soap, water, and a splash of lemon juice — harsh cleaners like bleach or ammonia can linger and make cubes unsafe.
Ice trays can make the ice taste stale over time, but can be revitalized by placing the empty trays in the oven at 250–350°F to bake off lingering odors — don't worry, the trays won't melt or menu promised an Old Fashioned variation composed of high-end rye whiskey, a housemade syrup of seasonal berries, fine Italian amaro, and at least three other aromatic and fruity ingredients. It was sure to be a layered explosion of flavors that would dilute slowly over a large, crystal-clear cube in a rocks glass.
None of the ingredients listed above was garlic bread. Unfortunately, the drink tasted like it.
No, it wasn't prepared with a cool, savory gin or bespoke pizza bitters. The culprit was improperly stored ice.
Ice is, after all, frozen water. It's a malleable canvas that can form all sorts of marvelous shapes and elegant, clear cubes. Yet, no matter how artful the display, the porous nature of water means that ice can take on surrounding odors and flavors.
How to properly store ice
'Ice readily absorbs smells not only from your freezer, but sometimes from your refrigerator as well,' says drinks historian and ice expert Camper English, author of The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts. 'One garlicky Old Fashioned changed how I store ice forever.'
He recommends storing ice in resealable plastic bags and refreshing it if it sits for a couple of weeks.
However, a layer of plastic is often not enough. Sometimes the call is coming from inside the house.
'I no longer keep food in my fridge that isn't well-sealed, like Chinese take-out boxes and pizza boxes, as I noticed it made my ice funky after a single night,' says English. 'If you want to do an experiment to show how porous ice is, freeze a container of it and then add a drop of food coloring on top. The food coloring seeps down the ice in unexpected zigzag patterns rather than uniformly.'"'Ice readily absorbs smells not only from your freezer, but sometimes from your refrigerator as well.'"
Camper EnglishThough it's not practical for most to possess a designated ice freezer, many venues are moving toward using smaller coolers specifically for ice. Geoff Smith, head bartender at Birch Hill Tavern in Glastonbury, Connecticut (a team member playfully refers to him as 'the Ice Jedi of New England'), says that the only food they store with the ice for drinks is bread. They switched to stackables in recent years. 'Every freezer has its own microclimate,' he says.
In addition, ice should never be frozen in a tray or other vessel that's been treated with harsh cleaning agents, bleaches, or ammonia. The ice can pick up lingering detergent aromas and be unsafe for consumption. Smith says he uses a mix of mild dishwashing liquid with lemon juice and water, sometimes with a little unflavored vodka added to eliminate any unwanted fragrance.
'Regular maintenance and cleaning of the filters is really important for using freezers,' says Lynnette Marrero, founder of Milly's Neighborhood Bar in Brooklyn, New York. She's the co-author of A Quick Drink: The Speed Rack Guide to Winning Cocktails for Every Mood, written with Speed Rack partner Ivy Mix, who discusses using a 'very inexpensive' ice freezer at her Brooklyn bar, Whoopsie Daisy, to keep cubes fresh.
'At Milly's, we are using a ghost cube system,' says Marrero. 'It is hard because you need air to flow on the top in order to get the proper freeze. However, I do put a light layer of Saran Wrap on top of the system and store it further away from everything else.'
Choosing an ice tray and dirty ice hacks
English says that while flexible trays are preferable, they can also pick up errant influences from a freezer's environment over time.
'Silicone ice cube trays also absorb odors from the freezer and fridge, so they can be a problem, too,' he says. 'After your ice is frozen in trays, pop it out and store it in a container [such as resealable plastic bags], and store the silicone molds outside of the freezer, where they won't pick up freezer smells.'
The trays can still make the ice taste stale over time, but the smells can be baked out of them. Several references recommend placing them in an oven preheated to 250–350°F (120–175°C) for 20 minutes to an hour. Worry not: they don't melt or burn.
How ice shape affects the taste
The shape of the ice is also influences the overall sipping experience. Larger, slower-melting cubes ensure even dilution for stirred, spirit-forward cocktails, or a refined single spirit like whiskey or tequila. Neutral-tasting, smaller ice should be used for everything else.
'Our Hemingway Daiquiri needs shaved ice to keep it cold and bright,' says Steven Huddleston, bartender at STIR in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the ice is tailored for every drink by hand. 'By producing crystal-clear blocks in-house and carving each piece to match the drink, we ensure every cocktail is served exactly the way it was intended.'
If that sounds too complicated, premium ice suppliers like Twin Lakes Ice Co. in Hudson, New York, offer a solution. Founded by Abby Puca and Sean Meagher, the company caters to the growing demand for pristine, slow-melting cubes that elevate drinks like Old Fashioneds.
'One large cube with absolute clarity and no air bubbles, striations, or impurities, along with less surface area on the ice, will allow that cocktail to mature and gain water content throughout the whole experience,' says Meagher, adding that shaken cocktails deserve the same respect. 'If you shake that cocktail with a single, clear shaking cube, you can achieve a much colder, aerated cocktail than if you were to shake with 10 or so cold draft cubes [as done in many bars and restaurants]. You can shake longer without having to worry about adding too much water content, thus resulting in an overall colder cocktail.'
Remember, no matter how perfectly a cube cools a cocktail, or how inviting it looks in the drink, how it was frozen and stored makes all the difference. It may melt away, but it can still remind you of that takeout container that you forgot to toss.
Read the original article on Food & Wine
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