Ice crusher or also known as ice shaver is an appliance that is specifically used to crush the ice. Usually, ice crusher is a commercial appliance that crushes large pounds of ice blocks in few hours. However, small crushers are also available for household purposes.
The large capacity crushers are mainly made up of rugged material like steel so that they can be roughly used for commercial purposes. Household or over-the counter ice crushers come with plastic body and attractive look. The feed tube through which the ice blocks are fed to the machine is generally a wide mouthed opening that also comes with funnel for easy feeding. The most important part of the crusher is the steel blade. For large machines, heavy duty steel blades are incorporated so as to facilitate the large ice crushing within few minutes. The container is also one of the major components of the appliance that is used to store the crushed ice. Commercial machines have the container that can hold up to 12 glasses of crushed ice, but household crushers come with smaller container.
Working of Ice Crushers
The basic idea behind the working of ice crusher is to break the large blocks of ice and crush them. The cocktails, soft drinks and juices go very well with this type of crushed ice, hence bar ice crusher is the main machine used in households.
Working of the crusher is quite easy. Two types of crushers are there, manual and electric. Both of them works differently, but the advantages are similar.
Manual crusher has a handle that is moved manually to crush the ice through blade and the attached grinder. The handle is moved in clockwise manner and it is quite easy to smash the ice in this way. The biggest advantage of this ice crusher is that the amount of ice fed in the machine can be controlled and the machine does not jam due to overload. However, manual ice crushers are now outdated and replaced by electric machines.
Electric ice shavers are the need of modern bars and large commercial activities. Though electric machine has the same function as the manual appliance, the advantage of electric one is the less consumption of time. Plug in, feed the ice and switch on the machine; these are the major steps for making crushed ice in electric crusher. Once all the ice in the feeder is crushed, the machine stops on its own. The ice is saved in the container and can be used as and when required.
Uses of Crushed Ice
Bar ice crusher is widely used to shave the ice for the drinks that contains only spirits as the main ingredient without any employment of water and other fluid. This is according to a general mixology rule defined by Jerry Thomas in 19th century.
Fountain soda machines are also full of crushed or shaved ice. Crushed ice also goes well in a cocktail mixer to make a slurry and thick cocktail. ‘Adult snow cone’ is an authentic cocktail drink produced by the crushed ice. A glass is used to pack crushed ice and liquor is poured over it to make a sultry drink. Amaretto, PAMA, vermouth, wine and Chambord are the few spirits that can be employed alone with shaved ice or can be combined to produce a unique flavor.