Blood Orange And Basil Ice To Make Ahead

Add a wonderful flavour burst to your sparkling water and cocktails with flavoured ice cubes. These blood orange and basil ice cubes add sophisticated citrus flavour and pop of colour to your favourite drinks. Freezing extra herbs and citrus in ice cubes is also a great way to reduce food waste. Find out how to make and store flavoured ice cubes with these easy instructions.

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Blood orange and basil ice ingredients

To make flavoured ice cubes you’ll need an ice cube tray and just a couple of fresh ingredients:

• 2 blood oranges
• large bunch fresh basil leaves
• water

Why use blood oranges?

There are two reasons why we used blood oranges to make these flavoured ice cubes. Blood oranges are slightly sweeter than other oranges and the flavour goes perfectly with the slightly sweet and spicy flavour of basil. The other reason is the colour. Blood oranges retain their intense reddish orange when frozen and look great with the bright green basil.

If you don’t have blood oranges, you can also use other varieties like naval oranges or Cara Cara oranges.

Method

Wash the blood oranges and pat dry. If you are using store bought oranges, it’s a good idea to clean them to remove any citrus wax before using.

Rinse the basil leaves and pat dry with paper towel.

Cut the blood oranges into quarters with a sharp knife. Then cut each quarter into thin slices (about 3mm thick).

Place 2 small wedges of blood orange in each section of the ice cube tray. Add two basil leaves to each section. Top with water and place on a level surface in the freezer.

Leave ice cube trays in the freezer for at least 4 hours to ensure that the ice cubes have frozen completely.

Remove tray from the freezer, twist to release ice cubes and add to your favourite drinks.

Makes once ice cube tray (approximately 16 cubes). Use two cubes per serving.

Storage

If you aren’t planning to use flavoured ice cubes straight away, it’s best to remove it’s best to remove them from the trays. Store in and air tight container or eco-friendly zip-lock bag. This prevents the ice from absorbing any food smells from the freezer. You can also easily take one or two ice cubes as needed to add to your drinks and cocktails.

Ice cubes and best used within 3 months of freezing.

How To Use Blood Orange and Basil ice

Flavoured ice cubes are an easy way to add interest to water, both sparkling and still. It’s a great way to encourage drinking more water throughout the day, or to serve to guests when entertaining.

The slightly sweet and spice taste of blood orange and basil makes it a perfect addition to cocktails. Try it in a gin and tonic or a mojito. For more citrus flavour, use these blood orange icecubes in a blood orange flavoured cocktail. mocktail, smoothie or drink.

More ways to use oranges

Orange and basil is just one delicious flavour combination. Try blood orange with thyme in our tangy blood orange vinaigrette salad dressing. You’ll find many more herbs that go with oranges in our list of over 60 different flavours that go with oranges.

For more blood orange recipes, try our blood orange loaf cake or try some of these amazing orange salad recipes.

For more ideas for cooking with oranges, and more citrus inspiration for your home and garden, we’d love you to subscribe.