Our favourite drinks taste the best when consumed cold, the ice in the drinks almost feels like it accentuates the taste of the drink. But don’t we all hate that having a chilled drink could mean the ice diluting the taste of the drink? But this is changing — thanks to artificial ice cubes, you can have your drink chilled without worrying about losing its flavour upon ice melting!
As confusing as the word ‘artificial ice’ could sound, here’s us breaking it down for you. Sateesh Polkam, general manager, operations at Farzi Café, Jubilee Hills says that artificial ice cubes are the new best friend of mixologists in the city. “The artificial ice helps keep your drink cooler for a long time while ensuring the drink is not diluted.
It’s only for cocktails that we use real ice because we have to shake it all up to dilute the alcohol in it. Also, since wine has a lot of flavours in it, we do not use artificial ice. The best part about artificial ice is that it is reusable. That said, we don’t use them often, because they are not easily available and the price ranges between Rs 170 and 3000,” he tells CE.
But what is an artificial ice cube you ask? Food blogger Bharath Suthapalli, better known for his Instagram page ClickEatXploreYo, dissects it for us by saying, “These ice cubes that are currently trending are aluminium steel cubes and are heavier than real ice.
They freeze these cubes and then use them in the cocktails and mocktails and can be refrozen and used by simple washing. But bear in mind that they are heavy and are made of metal, if you don’t handle them with care, they could break your glass or hurt you if you drop them onto yourself. Awareness about these ice cubes deserves to grow because it is also environment-friendly as it helps save so much water.”
Sujatha Stephen Rd, chief nutritionist at Yashoda Hospitals, explains whether or not these artificial ice cubes are healthy: “If you use silicon materials in the artificial ice, then it would be a problem. Plastic or silicon is not good and sometimes they are made by chemicals that make water absorb it quickly. Sometimes, the water in the silicon might leak so you need to be careful while using it. Once this trend starts to click, a lot of them will start using it and a lot of plastic will add on to the environment, but the use of nontoxic steel/aluminium ice cubes might not cause any harm to your health or the planet.”