Botanical Ice Cubes

I just need to take a moment, because in one weeks time we will be in the last day of April. The. Last. Day. Wasn’t it Easter only a couple of weeks ago? Where did April go? I have no idea.

It means that my birthday will be just under a month away and I thought I had ages until that happened. Which also means that we are almost almost half way through the year. Jeepers creepers, someone pass me the pause button. I had plans, none of which I have done yet. I better get a move on.

In the meantime, let’s look at some pretty ice cubes to take our minds off it.

This idea is absolutely nothing new, the internet is awash with them. But I wanted to make some, so . . .

It is an easy way to add some interest to drinks, because once the ice has melted you have pretty little flowers floating around in your drink.

Also, you can tailor them to your favourite tipple. For example, I put some mint leaves and flowers in some, which would be perfect for this gin cocktail. The ones with small pieces of cucumber and basil leaves are perfect for . . . err . . . gin and tonic. I shouldn’t have started this because now I realise that I have made ice cubes with gin in mind, albeit subconsciously. Oh, wait, the ones with pansies in can go in any drink, any. Phew, saved it a little bit there.

Of course, you can put them in soft drinks too and there are limitless combinations of botanical additions – herbs, edible flowers, small pieces of fruit. Go wild.

To add extra interest you can use a shaped ice-cube tray. No uniform cubes here.