Decorative Ice Cubes Or Ice Mold

Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• citrus fruits, thinly sliced
• sliced strawberry
• fresh edible flower (such as marigolds, pansies, nasturtiums, rose petals)
• mint sprig
• maraschino cherry

Recipe

• 1 for decorative ice cubes: put small chunks of fruit or mint sprigs into an ice tray, fill with water and freeze.
• 2 serve the ice cubes directly in drinks, or put them out in a glass bowl or ice bucket with tongs.
• 3 for the decorative ice mold: you will need a glass bowl that is smaller than your punch bowl, plus a second shallow container of equal volume.
• 4 fill the shallow container with water and let it sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes, stirring it from time to time to get rid of any air bubbles.
• 5 line the bottom (but not up the sides) of the empty glass bowl with fruit and/or flowers of your choice.
• 6 take a tablespoon or so of water from the shallow container and pour this water over the fruit/flower layer, then put the glass bowl in the freezer, leaving it there until the fruit/flower layer is anchored in ice.
• 7 next, pour another tablespoon or so of the reserved water over the first (now frozen), and allow this to freeze; continue adding water and letting it freeze until the fruit/flower layer is just barely covered in ice.
• 8 now start going up the bowl, laying fruit and/or flowers against the side of the bowl, and pouring water over them a little at a time, allowing the water to freeze to anchor the fruit and/or flowers against the side of the bowl.
• 9 continue adding water and allowing it to freeze until the bowl is full of ice.
• 10 when you're ready to use the mold, let the bowl sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes; or alternatively, put it in a slightly larger bowl containing warm water for a couple of minutes.
• 11 when the ice has melted just enough so that it's no longer stuck to the side of the bowl, invert the whole thing inside your punch bowl; the result will be a mound of ice with fruit and flowers all over its surface (note: when you pour some punch over it, the ice surface will become clear, though it's usually opaque when it first comes out of the mold).