How To Keep Ice Tasting Fresh

While the world's best bartenders crack ice into ideal shapes, top restaurants stamp the stuff with monograms, and whole companies are dedicated to the art of achieving diamond ice clarity, that frozen water is still an afterthought for plenty of people. In most households, it either comes tumbling down from some arctic recess of the freezer with the push of a button, fills ancient trays nobody remembers buying (or cleaning), or turns to stone in big plastic bags leftover from parties. But there is a middle ground that can make your drinks just a little tastier that doesn't require any special sculpting techniques.

The easiest way to keep your ice cubes neutral is to prevent corruption. Ice is porous; so porous, in fact, that it sends some purists straight into the arms of things like whiskey stones. (While whiskey stones are typically used to eliminate dilution, they're also less likely to pick up unwanted flavors.) So if you can keep your ice away from potentially interfering fragrances, you're in pretty good shape. Clean your freezer and refrigerator regularly (all that cold air is coming from the same place), keep that good old box of baking soda in the latter, and store as much as possible in airtight containers. Keep your freezer and refrigerator at the right temperature to stave off any premature funkiness, too. If the appliance itself is a breath of fresh air, your ice cubes, too, will taste like nothing more than the water from whence they came.

The road to kitchen mishaps is paved with good intentions. Even if you've kept the icebox sparkling, leftovers from one errant pizza night can send the perfume of anchovies thundering through its filters. Covered ice trays are your top defense. And for the best insurance against compromised ice cubes, you will, unfortunately, want to skip those attractive, user-friendly silicone varieties, as they are more vulnerable to odors.

Instead, consider a hard plastic option like the OXO Good Grips trays that we literally have chilling in our own kitchen right now. Each tray comes with a sliding lid that clicks into place to keep its fairly standard-sized ice cubes protected from the elements (meaning those invisible anchovy particles). You should also give them a good scrub now and then, and these are dishwasher safe.

Individual ball molds can go even further to seal against impurities, but they take up more space and it's harder to have enough prepared at any one time. Some folks also swear by filtered water for their ice cubes, but this will make less of a difference in places known for their water quality like New York City. And, whatever your ice-making vehicle, make sure it's totally free of frost or chips from previous batches before refilling, as those can carry unwanted aromas.