It is about time that ice cubes shaped up and started living up to their name. For far too long that lazy ice “cube” has been oddly trapezoidal in shape and explodes into little shards of ice when it is released from its tray. Here to put an end to all that is the Tovolo Perfect Cube ice cube tray.

If these cubes make you the hit of your next party…you really need some better friends. Seriously. That said, there are some reasons why these cubes are better, other than feeding some weird compulsion to have everything perfectly even. First off, these cubes have a better volume to surface area ratio than normal cubes. Why is that good you ponder? Well…(Imagine I just struck a know-it-all pose, as all bloggers are apt to do) that means these cubes will melt slower, keeping your drink just as cold but diluting it less. The other benefit from these cubes is that you release them one at a time by poking underneath and popping them out. This is good if you just want one glass of cubes. If you need a tray’s worth, just leave the tray on the counter for a sec to defrost.

Since ice ends up melting into whatever you are drinking it is a good idea to start with filtered water. If you are trying to make some sort of fancy cocktail apparently fancy ice is the new hot thing. Here is my parting tid-bit of knowledge: In order to get crystal clear ice cubes, boil the water first. Boiling helps release trapped gasses that can cloud the ice.