Why Your Ice Cube Trays Are Secretly Ruining Your Drinks (And The Easy Fix)

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Ideally, you want your ice cubes to be tasteless. Slow-frozen ice cubes make for the best drinks because they're neutral. The worst they can do is dilute the flavor of your drink as they melt. But sometimes the ice itself tastes off. How, exactly, did you accidentally add flavor while freezing a tray of ice cubes? It might come down to what's sitting next door. While it's working its magic, if the ice cube tray is sitting next to chemicals or pungent food, you can easily end up tasting something unpleasant later.

We spoke to Bryan Quoc Le, food scientist, author of the book "150 Food Science Questions Answered," and founder of Mendocino Food Consulting. According to Le, strong smells can quickly mess up your ice. "Ice can absorb odors because it is porous and interacts with moisture and volatile compounds in the freezer environment." Your trays, especially those made from plastic or silicone, will also absorb any smells lingering in the freezer.

"Odors in the freezer are caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from stored food items or freezer spoilage," Le explained. "These VOCs circulate in the freezer air and can condense or adhere to the surface of ice as it freezes or sits in the tray." When people talk about VOCs, they're usually referring to the harmful fumes released by paints and cleaning products, but fresh meat in the freezer can release VOCs too.

Considering it takes a few hours to freeze a whole tray of ice cubes, you want to make sure you're doing it right, especially when freezer space is limited. If you don't have enough room to separate the food from the tray, how do you protect the ice? Le said ice cubes will keep their flavor (or lack thereof) best if you use airtight containers and sealed freezer bags once they've taken shape. This way, you can prevent smelly cross-contamination. If possible, though, keep the ice cube tray away from really strong-smelling foods. It helps if you clean out your freezer, as well. "Using activated charcoal or desiccants like silica gel inside the freezer can absorb excess moisture and odors."

But what if the call is coming from inside the house, so to speak? What I mean to say is — what if the ice cube tray itself has picked up a weird smell and is now gifting its grossness to every bit of ice it touches? You should wash ice trays regularly with soap and water. If it's really bad, there's a useful oven trick to treat smelly ice cube trays which involves baking them for a short while (they won't melt if you do it right). To exorcise a really deep stink, Le suggests filling the tray with vinegar and water and letting it sit for a few minutes. "After cleaning, freeze a batch of sacrificial ice cubes to absorb any lingering taste before using the trays again."