Kaleidoscope Ice Cubes

Equipment needed:
flexible ice cube tray
sauce pan
small pitcher or measuring cup with a spout

1. Put the distilled water in the sauce pan and bring the water to a boil. Set aside to cool.
2. Bring distilled water to a boil again. Set aside to cool.
3. While water is cooling, slice up fruit (or vegetables or herbs) as thinly as possible. Be careful to remove any thick pith, unattractive skin and seeds.
4. Arrange the fruits, herbs or vegetables in the cubicles of your ice cube tray, making sure to have the colorful side facing towards the outside and below the top edge of the tray.
5. Pour about 1/4″ of cooled distilled water into each square (see notes below).
6. Pop the tray into the freezer for about 1 hour or until water is almost frozen.
7. With the cooled distilled water, fill each cube until about 1/8″ from the top of the tray.
8. Return the tray to the freezer and leave overnight.

Notes:

Distilled water does have a tendency to pick up odors from your freezer so do not make the ice cubes too far ahead of time. One to two days before you plan on using them is fine, but three or more days could be a problem.

Since fruit, vegetables and herbs float in water and after much trial and error, I decided to pour about 1/4″ of water in the bottom of each cube, then add the fruit making sure that the fruit is at least 1/4″ below the top edge of the ice cube tray. Then put the tray in the freezer for about an hour. When the 1/4″ of water is frozen and has anchored the fruit so that it will not float, fill the rest of the tray with water making sure to submerge the fruit in water. This way the fruit will be suspended in the cube and not floating on the top.