Hip lounges and craftsman bartenders go on and on about the virtues of better ice. Now you can buy bright-colored soft silicone trays to produce fancy ice cubes. They look impressive, but do they make a better drink? In the case of the Tovolo King Cube Jumbo Size ice tray, the answer is yes.
Gadget name: Tovolo King Cube Silicone Ice Cube Tray
Price: $7.95
It looks like: A normal-sized ice cube tray, but with six massive 2-inch ice cube canals.
How we tested it: By putting on our home mixologist hats, kicking our feet up and concocting lots of cold beverages (it’s tough, but someone has to do it). We measured the melting rates of the ice by adding equal weight of the cube to glasses of juice so we could record how much it diluted our drinks.
Drawbacks: Not as much a drawback as a warning: Make sure the cube fits the inner diameter of your favorite glassware—or they’ll get stuck halfway down the glass.
My favorite part: The cubes look impressive, but more importantly, they kept our drinks from tasting watered-down. Over the course of 30 minutes, the Tovolo’s cubes only added 36 percent more liquid to our drink, less than any other ice cube tray we’ve tested. Also, the bendable and pliable silicone makes popping out the cubes a cinch.
Best for: Slowly sipped drinks, like whisky on the rocks.
Overall: Make room in your freezer—this ice cube tray is certainly worth owning.
About the Author: Lisa McManus
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Nice ice cube tray. I use my mini, reg, and jumbo silicone muffin pans for freezing soups, stocks, herbs, etc. I bet the reg size muffin one would make similarly sized ice cubes and still fit into my glasses. Cool.
Mishaligirl – what a fab idea! I’ve always snubbed the silicone baking “pans”. Just can’t get past the non-metallic feel of them – lol! But now I may have to acquire some, as I’ve been trying to think of a reasonable way to freeze larger-portioned pureed foods (my youngest can’t chew). See? Put a question out to the Universe and the answer always comes, in my experience. Thanks!!!!
Ice cube trays for me have gone the way of meals on Airplanes. Especially now that I’m in the 21st century with a side by side refrigerator / freezer…with built in ice maker/ water dispenser…there is little enough room in the bottom pull out freezer for food, never mind an ice cube tray….even the old side by side without a ice dispenser in the basement has little to no room