These ice makers produce perfectly, crystal

Let's make something perfectly clear.

Ice.

That's right. Enough of the cloudy cubes that look like plastic shapes floating in ice tea. Or blobs bobbing around in bourbon.

Perfectly clear ice. So clear it's "read-a-newspaper-though-it" ice. Crystal cubes in a glass. As clear as the glass itself. And the crystal-clear ice comes out of the same home refrigerator that spits out the cloudy looking stuff. It just requires the right equipment.

There are two designs for home freezers: One set makes ice cubes; the other, spheres. They use no moving parts. Today, we'll concentrate on cubes. Spheres are another column.

The ice-making sets all work on the same principle. They chill in the home freezer. All of them work the same way — through a concept known as "directional freezing." More about that in a minute. A dozen or so of these cube makers are for sale on Amazon. The big difference among them is the quality of the materials used.

The ice makers are only two parts: a shoe-box shaped tank, and an ice tray with holes in the bottom that rests atop the tank. The ice tray is made of silicone, and it has to be durable to withstand being frozen, and then tugged at while its being separated from the tank after freezing is complete.

The water in the ice tray is exposed to the frigid air, so it begins to freeze first. As it does, it pushes the air in the water and dissolved solids through the holes in the tray and into the water tank below. When the ice cubes are frozen solid — which takes about 20 to 24 hours — the result is a clear cube of ice. And that is how the directional freezing process works.

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The ice-cube maker that produces a crystal cube and has a thicker ice tray than its competitors is Ice. Made. Clear (IMC). It is only available from the company (www.icemadeclear.com). It's $99 with $7 flat shipping. It's more expensive, but there are positive points to support the price.

• IMC comes with two trays: One for making 2-inch cubes, six cubes at a time. Another makes 1.25-inch cubes, 12 at a time. The silicone used for the trays is thicker than used in other brands on the market. That's important because the trays have to be pulled apart from the water tank on which they rest. They also they have a large tab on one end that gives users a handhold when getting the tray separated from the water tank.

• The IMC water tank is made using a "rotational molding" process. It produces a seamless end product, one that provides a dense thermal barrier to keep the water below the ice tray from turning to ice too quickly. "I like to say that rotomolding is the same process used to make Yeti coolers," said Joseph Myers, IMC's designer who is also a professional filmmaker and entrepreneur. "It's more expensive to use it," he added, but after more than 100 prototypes, Myers' production team decided it worked best.

• IMC is made in America, a point Myers likes to make on the website. "We could save some expense by having it made elsewhere," he said, but "I think it is important to [make it in America] if I can. It employs people here, and allows me to more easily monitor quality."

Myers said that the "ultra-thick trays and rotomolded base ... make the design bulletproof. I have many cocktail bar owners who have 6-to-12 IMC sets and use them routinely. I also have a high-percentage of repeat customers who return to buy more sets as gifts." (The website also offers discounts to repeat customers or for multiple purchases.)

The result is a setup that's built to withstand the rigorous freezing/thawing cycles and to deliver an ice cube — large or small — that is smooth-sided and completely clear. (If you're planning a party, best to make batches of ice ahead a keep them frozen in a plastic zip-top bag.)

Myers said the IMC cubes are denser than regular cubes because the dissolved air has been pushed out and the large surface area of the cubes do a better job of cooling a drink.

Summing up: Ice. Made. Clear. And. Pretty. Too.

Lonnie Brown can be reached at [email protected].