- Ice balls don't just look cool, they actually
surface a purpose.
When you add ice cubes to your beverage,
they begin melting fast and can often
water down your drink.
This is because the cube has a high surface area
giving it lots of contact with the warm liquid.
Using a sphere provides the same cooling effect,
but with less of it coming into contact
with the liquid itself.
That means the ice ball will melt slower,
while keeping your beverage nice and frosty.
We figured out a simple way to get edible ice balls
using tennis balls and balloons.
This means you don't need to buy expensive molds.
In fact, you can make these right now with stuff
you probably already have laying around your house.
On the other side of things, here's a pricey
ice ball mold that we got at the store.
You fill the container up to the line
and place it in the freezer for a few hours.
The results on these seem to be all over the place,
but we'll check back in on that later.
You've also probably seen people making ice using
just balloons.
It's simple enough really.
Just get yourself some water balloons
and fill them up to the desired size.
The problem is that they're not gonna come out
in a sphere shape.
More like an egg.
So, if that's what you're after, look no further
and enjoy your egg-shaped ice.
To take the balloon method a bit further towards perfection,
you need a way to hold the balloon in a sphere-like shape
while it freezes.
Using a tennis ball is cheap and extremely effective.
To start, you'll obviously need a tennis ball.
I got a bag of these for less than the price
of that plastic mold you saw.
Next you need something to cut into it with.
Don't let the tennis ball deceive you,
it's quite strong.
I went with a simple hand saw to quickly cut into the ball.
Be extra careful when cutting it, as you
don't wanna damage your extremities.
Cut about three quarters of the way down,
as this will leave some of the ball connected
while still leaving room to put thing inside
or take 'em out.
The cut doesn't need to be perfect, but try and keep it
as straight as you can.
Next, take your water balloon and attach it to a nozzle.
I had this nifty hand pump available, but a sink
will work just fine.
The balloon not only makes leaks impossible,
but it also keeps the ice from touching
that nasty rubber inside the tennis ball.
Once the balloon is ready to fill, place it inside the ball
and slowly add water until you see the ball
beginning to split apart.
You wanna fill up the inside completely to get
the spheres you're looking for.
Now you can grip onto the end of the balloon
and slowly let out any extra water by squeezing
the tennis ball carefully.
Try to keep it filled up as much as possible
while still being able to close the ball.
Tie off the balloon to the best of your abilities
and get yourself a couple rubber bands.
Simply place them around the ball in a fashion that'll
keep it closed so the water inside can
freeze into the proper shape.
Once you're done, just place the tennis balls
into the freezer for a few hours.
If you wanna go a bit bigger, scour your dog's toys
and see what goodies might work as a bigger mold.
I found this oversized tennis ball that was perfect
for some icy action.
Following the same process as before,
I carefully cut into it with a small saw,
and got a much larger balloon this time around.
I filled the balloon up using the faucet,
making sure it was inside the ball first.
The larger ball made this easier to work with
and you can tell exactly where you're at in the process.
Once it's filled, you just tie it off again,
leaving the stem outside of the ball.
Of course, you need some strong rubber bands
to hold this beast in place.
So plan accordingly.
Put it in the freezer and as usual, hurry up and wait.
If you remove your ball before it's fully frozen
you might run into a bit of trouble when you go
to remove it.
This one, for example, had a nice frozen shell,
but the insides were completely liquid.
It looks pretty awesome, but clean up was not
the most exciting part of my day.
Not to mention, adding dark food coloring
probably wasn't the best choice here.
Speaking of food coloring, you can spice up your ice balls
with a more festive feel by adding a few drops to
the balloons before you fill 'em up.
You might wanna wear gloves while doing this
so you don't stain your skin.
But just add the nozzle to the balloon, and let it loose.
If you're just sticking to frozen balloons,
tie 'em off and add 'em to the freezer.
If you want an ice ball, then follow protocol
and do the filling inside of the tennis ball.
All right, now let's take a look at what we have so far.
The frozen balloons came out as expected
with oddly shaped ice, but it still worked pretty good
and there's nothing wrong with having some egg-shaped ice.
But the first batch of ice spheres, using tennis balls,
came out even better.
Simply place your frozen tennis ball down and remove
the rubber bands using whatever method you prefer.
Now pry the ball apart and remove the rounded balloon
from the inside.
Again, if you used food coloring, make sure you
have some gloves on.
The balloon may burst off on its own, but if not,
a simple tap with a knife should do the trick,
leaving you with a frozen orb of goodness
to add to your drinks or whatever you plan
on doing with them.
My absolute favorite came from the extra large tennis ball.
Following the same directions, I just popped off
the rubber bands and removed the balloon from the shell.
Pop the balloon and boom, icy perfection.
Unfortunately I don't have a drinking glass to fit this.
But it served its purpose for showing you how it's done.
You might also be wondering how the plastic mold
worked out.
The problem with these is they tend to break apart
once the ice begins to expand, which can leave your
final product looking quite off in shape.
They require you to monitor them as they freeze,
so you have to remove them at the right time,
as opposed to the set it and forget it nature
of the tennis ball mold.
But hey, whatever works for you.
Oh, and here's another fun thing you can do if
you wanna make a tasty treat.
How about a candy ice ball?
I had some festive Skittles laying around
and wanted to try this out.
Just prop open the ballon and add as many as you can.
The candies are actually going to dissolve while
the ball freezes, giving it a unique color
and also making the entire thing taste sweet.
Here, check this out.
After freezing the Skittle ball, this was the result.
You can chip off pieces to eat, or treat it like a lollipop
and enjoy it over a long period of time.
Either way, the kids will love it.
So here's everything side by side.
These three came from using balloons alone,
which I said works in a pinch, but lacks
the aesthetics of a sphere.
This one up here is from the mold.
It's close, but not perfect, whereas these two
came from the tennis ball molds.
I think the clear winner here was the balloon
in tennis ball combo.
Look at that magnificent ball of ice.
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