Make Jalapeño Mango Margarita Ice Cubes To Add A Fiery Punch To Summer Drinks
Summer cocktails are incomplete without the addition of crushed ice or ice cubes that introduce a seductive chill into the drinks that turns them into refreshing delights enabling you to beat the heat. But ice also has a tendency to dilute cocktails as soon as it starts melting and when temperatures rise, this happens very, very fast. So, adding ice to alcoholic mixes is a tricky affair.
Cocktail blends need to be packed with lots of booze and mixers so the ice cubes do not end up making the drink too watery. Yet cocktails need a perfect balance of different flavours for it to be relished as a mouth watering tipple without becoming too overpowering. This necessitates adjusting the proportions of the mixers and the booze with ice in a way that the flavours of the cocktail are retained to the very end. To deal with this summertime challenge, mixologists and bartenders have come up with clever hacks like making flavoured ice for ensuring the taste of the cocktail lingers in the drink even after the ice begins to melt.
Jalapeño Mango Margarita Ice Cubes
Generally, ice cubes are crafted by adding herbal syrups or infused simple syrups to water and freezing this mix until it forms little round or square-shaped cubes. However, turning cocktails into ice takes this process to a whole different layer of sophisticated mixology.
Crafting mango margarita ice cubes imbued with the spicy notes of jalapeños is one such simple process. You need to first prepare this margarita and strain the mix so it becomes a clear liquid. This can then be poured into the ice rack to freeze into little cubes of margaritas.
These flavoured ice cubes can then be added to a margarita cocktail so its flavours gradually seep into the boozy drink without the risk of diluting the mix. You can either add the jalapeño and mango margarita cubes to an identically flavoured cocktail or you can fill a coupe glass with these ice cubes upon which you can pour a classic margarita concoction. With this, you will be able to enjoy a complex combination of two rather boozy margarita varieties coming together in a glass.
Seasonal Flavours
Mangoes ripen into delicious, fleshy fruits in summer and are enjoyed as additions to various sweet and savoury preparations all through the season. Adding mangoes to cocktails is just another way to savour this luscious fruit that blooms only in warm weather. You can chop up and blend chunks of mangoes to prepare the mango margarita which garners a spicy kick with the addition of the hot peppers. Spicy jalapeños and sweet mangoes are a classic pair in summers because it blends two contrasting flavours, both well suited to beat the heat. Muddle the peppers into a cocktail shaker and to this mix add a splash of Don Julio Blanco tequila, lime juice and triple sec to craft a stunning fruit flavoured margarita that will be turned into ice cubes.
Alternatively you can add the jalapeños to a simmering pot of hot water and allow its flavours to steep in. Deseed the peppers if you want to create a milder infusion because the more seeds you leave in to seep, the spicier this infused water would be. Once the water is ready you can mix it with mango juice and tequila as well as a store bought margarita mix before pouring this liquid onto your ice tray. The ice cubes will acquire a very inviting yellow and greenish hue once they are frozen that will light up any margarita glass as a stunning garnish too.
These flavoured cubes are actually packed with layered tastes so you can in fact use them to elevate the profile of many cocktails other than the margarita which need a sweet and spicy kick. Tropical numbers crafted out of tequila containing lots of fruits and citrus juices can benefit from the addition of these spicy mango margarita ice cubes as they will lend them a very full bodied finish.
