Reach For This Kitchen Essential To Give Your Ice Trays A Much-Needed Clean

Ice trays are an invaluable component of many people's culinary lives. There is so much you can do with them besides making plain ice, as you can also freeze your favorite beverages like tea, coffee, and even smoothies to cool down the drinks later. However, the problem with ice trays is that they're often not washed properly and can have a considerable amount of gunk left on them. Not only is this gross, but it can impact your health as well. Food stuck to the nooks and crannies of your plastic ice tray will end up becoming a breeding ground for bacteria. Even if all you froze was water, bacteria still exists in the freezer from open food packages or your hands. Your trays could also be covered in hard water chemicals or soap residue, so a quick rinse of the tray isn't enough. Instead, clean your ice tray by washing it with vinegar.

Vinegar is more than just a condiment to make your food more tangy. It doubles as a versatile cleaning tool because of its acidity and ability to kill a lot of bacteria. It's just what your ice tray needs. Build-up can not only affect the way that your ice tastes, but you do not want to ingest any of the contaminants so you don't get sick. There are several ways you can incorporate vinegar into your ice tray cleanse routine to leave it spick and span.

You have the option of submerging the plastic ice tray in a vinegar solution. First, rinse the ice tray under a jet of water so that any loose particles will be dislodged, making the work of the cleaning solution easier. Then, mix distilled white vinegar with warm water in a 1:1 ratio. Place the ice tray in a bowl and pour the mixture on top of it until it's completely submerged. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes before scrubbing it the next day.

Another approach you can take is cleaning the ice tray using a vinegar and baking soda mixture. Vinegar on its own is great, but baking soda makes it more reactive, giving it an extra boost. Sprinkle some baking soda into the tray and pour vinegar over it for a nice fizzle. You can let it sit before washing it off with dish soap.

While white vinegar will break down almost all of the residue on your ice tray, a little mechanical action wouldn't hurt either. There may still be some muck stuck to its hard-to-reach corners, and your dish sponge might not be able to do the job. You can improvise with a small brush like a toothbrush that will target those areas precisely and scrub them for you.