Summertime brings all sorts of opportunities to sit and sip the hours away.  Why not do it this summer in style?  These pretty, pureed fruit ice cubes are quick, simple, fresh way to add flavor and dimension to your sodas, lemonades, and sparkling waters, while keeping them cool and refreshing. 

Whether you are hosting a party, looking for a lovely way to add some zest to your plain old party soda, or hoping to sneak a little more fruit into your kiddos diets, you’ll love the simplicity and versatility of making your own frozen fruit ice cubes.

The idea is almost as simple as plopping a bunch of your favorite fruits into a blender, and pressing the puree button.  It’s almost that simple.  There are a few blending and time saving tricks and tips you’ll be glad to know about ahead of time.  So, before you head into your kitchen to get started, be sure you check out these few tips and tricks to make the most of your pretty frozen fruit cubes.

Some fruits are better than others. You can plop frozen banana chunks into your lemonade, but such a mixture isn’t going to be nearly as appetizing as having freckled bits of strawberries or kiwis floating in your glass. When preparing a batch of frozen fruit cubes, try pureeing these fruits for the most complimentary drink flavors and textures: mangoes, strawberries, kiwi, watermelon, maraschino cherries, blackberries, raspberries, papaya, peaches, black cherries, coconut milk.

Puree only very ripe fruits. The riper the fruit, the sweeter it is, so you can’t hack into a green peach, plop it into your blender, and expect a sugar-sweet ice cube to magically appear. Instead, choose fruits that are extremely ripe and soft, even those that are nearing the brink of almost inedible (but never puree fruit that has been molded or badly bruised. The flavor will come through in the final product, and so will the bacteria. Ick.)

Prepare with natural fruit juices, not water. To prepare ice cubes, simply choose a favorite fruit, peel, pit and plop it in a blender, puree, and your done! If the fruits you are pureeing don’t have enough natural juices to move freely through the blender blades, add just a touch of apple juice to the mixture, just enough to thin it out. Adding water to the fruit will cause the ice cubes to dilute drinks, rather than flavor them.

Freeze in a standard ice cube tray.  No special equipment (other than a blender) is needed to make these flavored fruit cubes.  Just puree the fruit, pour it into a standard ice cube tray, freeze, and plop into a drink whenever needed.  There’s no faster, or healthier way to turn a drink from everyday to gourmet!

Mix up a few favorites:

• Tropical Spritzer (Gingerale + Mango Fruit Cube + Coconut Milk Fruit Cube)
• Berry Lemonade (Lemonade + Raspberry & Strawberry Fruit Cube)
• Strawberry Shirley Temple (Sprite + Strawberry-Maraschino Cherry Fruit Cube)
• Beachside Cooler (Soda Water + Watermelon Fruit Cube)
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