On the heels of my post about our pathetic summer, she comes to LA for the weekend to punish us all and make up for her three-month absence. Desperate to stay cool and hydrated, my husband told me about fruit-freezing; packing dry ice into a cooler with fruit, leaving it for a few hours and when you eat it, it’s supposed to be frozen solid and carbonated. I couldn’t get past the bit about something being frozen solid and carbonated (bubbly!) so we had to give it a go.
Step 1. Acquire Dry Ice. (Bring gloves with you to the market)
Just about every supermarket sells dry ice in a locked cooler next to the bagged ice display. Use leather, or cloth gloves to handle the ice.
Step 2. Chop up watermelon, honeydew, cantaloup and place in a zip-close freezer bag. Throw some grapes in for good measure. Insulate the freezer bag with a brown paper bag, set the insulated fruit bag directly on top of the dry ice block and close up the cooler.
Step 3. Let the cooler and dry ice work their magic for 4+ hours.
Step 4. Serve immediately and enjoy gnawing at your frozen fruit. The texture is fantastic! Not quite Hawaiian Shave Ice, not quite a popsicle, but completely delicious.
As far as carbonation goes, if you let the grapes thaw out for a while, you can maybe, kinda sorta feel a little bit of fizz, but for me the pay-off was really biting into a frozen grape (careful they do freeze onto your tongue if eaten too quickly!), and a thick piece of melon on a hot day. It’s a fun change that kids and adults will love! So friends in L.A. and in other toasty places, this week drink lots of water, stay in the shade as much as possible and try dry ice to freeze up a tasty treat!
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Mimi says
This sounds fun. Maybe if you don’t seal the zip lock bags they would have more of the carbonation effect.
Roxanne
radmegan says
Good idea. It’s still sweltering up here. Perhaps we’ll try again this week. Hope you guys are staying cool!
Lauren says
THIS is what I needed last night! Brilliant! And you have a spooky mist, which is perfect with Halloween around the corner!
Sara Eaker says
I can’t believe this blog is not world famous yet. It’s seriously beyond AMAZING. You are so creative and a fabulous writer. I’m always inspired and impressed!
Mia Evans says
Thanks for helping me understand that we must use leather or cloth gloves when handling dry ice. I will keep that in mind since we want to hire people to provide us with dry ice that we can use. It will be for the photoshoot that we want to create for our pre-nuptial ideas by next week.
Deliya Steve says
You have given really wonderful tips for freezing fruits and tasting delicious fruits. I too would definitely love to try this to stay cool and hydrated.