MUJI Ice Ball Maker
As the title of the post has doubtless already given away, the object shown in the above image is not a space-age housing solution, a poor rendering of Spaceship Earth, or anything else related to mid-century visions of a brighter future for humanity.
No, instead, it is a contemporary solution to the problem presented by the fact that most of us lack the skill to carve ice balls on demand. This particular ice ball mold comes from MUJI and is made of silicone — like everything else in the kitchen section seems to be lately.
The type of ice ball used for cocktails is sometimes referred to as a “Japanese ice ball,” which is because carving ice balls has apparently persisted in finer bars in Japan while fading out of practice elsewhere. Andrew Bohrer has instructions at Cask Strength if you feel inclined to attempt carving your own. And, this video of a Japanese bartender demonstrating his skill at carving ice balls is quite impressive.
The reason for using an ice ball is that the large mass of ice has a smaller surface area than a handful of smaller cubes would, and therefore melts more slowly and dilutes your drink less. (It’s science!) Ice balls have experienced a resurgence with the general cocktail revival, and so now you can get various devices to produce them. The mold I have, which retails for $11.75, is one of the cheapest options I have seen.
The mold is in two parts, which form a sphere with a flattened bottom, and an open top for pouring in water. The interior is more perfectly round. As you can see, neither my boyfriend nor I have hit on the perfect technique yet, as our ice is a bit cloudy. However, I’m already pretty sold on the advantages of ice balls, and I’m happy with the mold. I’ve already gotten a good bit of use out of it, and even an imperfect iceball is a step up from a handful of cubes.
If you’d like an ice ball mold, stay tuned: I’ll be giving away one of these early next week. It’s still in the box and everything.
