Here is how to use the ClearlyFrozen ice cube tray:

1. The tray has three parts – a blue silicone mold, a plastic liner and a foam insulator box.  DO NOT THROW AWAY THE FOAM INSULATOR BOX.

2. Before you use the tray for the first time, you should wash the three parts.  The foam box is not dishwasher safe, but blue mold and the plastic liner are.

3. The whole unit, including the space in the liner beneath the blue mold, gets filled with water.  You can assemble the tray first and then fill it, but it will take a fair amount of time for the water to trickle through the little holes.  It is faster to first fill the liner with roughly 2” of water – doesn’t have to be exact – inserting the blue mold and topping it off.

4. Regular ice cube trays freeze from all directions, trapping dissolved air in the center of the cubes and making them cloudy.

5. By contrast, the ClearlyFrozen tray makes ice clear by using “directional freezing.”  The foam box insulates the bottom and sides of the liner and blue mold, so freezing occurs starting at the open top, pushing “the cloud” downward through the little holes in the bottom of the blue mold and leaving clear ice above.

6. The directional freezing won’t work properly unless the top of the tray remains uncovered in your freezer.

7. For optimal results, the key is to pull the cubes and store them separately once they have frozen about to the bottom of the blue mold, and before there is much freezing underneath. Timing depends on your freezer and might take a couple batches to pin down - you can try 16-18 hours and adjust longer or shorter based on results.

8. People at home may put a tray in the freezer first thing in the morning and then pull the cubes just before they go to bed.  Restaurants and bars using the trays typically put them in the freezer around closing time and pull the cubes some time the next afternoon.

9. If the water underneath the blue mold gets heavily frozen, it can force part of the cloud back up into the bottoms of the cubes, make the cubes difficult to remove and also possibly over-stress and crack the liner.

10. If the blue mold is hard to pull out of the liner, it is usually because there is some suction holding it in place. You can free the blue mold by turning the assembly upside down over a sink and gently prying the long sides of the liner away from the mold to let in some air and reduce the suction holding the mold.  Running some hot water on the outside of the liner also helps.  It can take a moment to get the release started, but then the whole thing drops right out.

11. You can store the finished cubes in a zip lock bag, ice bin or – low tech – a simple brown paper bag, which will absorb a bit of moisture and help keep the cubes from sticking to each other.  A stored cube may look a little frosty on the outside, but will clear up quickly once in a drink.

12. If you pour room temperature liquid onto a cube straight out of the freezer, it is likely to crack around the outside. You can minimize this by letting the cubes sit out at room temperature for a few minutes to “temper.”

If you follow these instructions and tips highlighted above you will have the easiest and clearest ice made right in your own home freezer!