Innovating Cold Storage with Moldable, Reusable Ice Cubes

Researchers at UC Davis are developing a reusable ice cube that may change the way we keep food cold. This plastic-free cooling cube can be custom-designed and cut to desired shapes and sizes and has the potential to reduce water consumption and food waste.

“When ice melts, it’s not reusable,” said Gang Sun, a professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering  . “We thought we could make a so-called solid ice to serve as a cooling medium and be reusable.”

Transcript

00:00:01 [Music] so [Music] here we have jelly ice cubes so when they are unfrozen or at a room temperature they're pretty soft in touch and clear in color and once we freeze them they become

00:00:41 rigid and opaque where the jelly ice cubes even after one hour we can see the jelly ice cubes and the fish they stay in solid contact status but with regular eyes here the fish is just soaked in a very big pot of water the jelly ice cubes are designed for repeated use

00:01:04 we can simply clean them with some regular water to to clean the surface dirt and once we drain the water they can go back to freezer and they will be ready for the next time of use [Music] you