Don't throw away those icecube trays!

This year we had a big crop of black currants, elderberries, and were lucky to get to harvest some cornelian cherries from Red Fern Farm in Grandview, Iowa. I've made my share of jams but my husband and I really don't eat jam. My mom bought me a lovely steam juicer from an Amish store and I used it to juice berries, but then what? Freeze the juice in a big jar and have to thaw the whole jar when I want just a splash of juice and then let the rest of the juice sit in the fridge slowly molding? (Yes I lose a lot of great things to mold in the back of my fridge). Not this time mold! Enter: ICE CUBE TRAYS!!

It's so easy. I just poured the juice in multiple ice cube trays and made a flat place in the freezer to set them. The next day, I cracked the frozen juice cubes out and put them in a ziplock bag for storage in the freezer.

This is not an original idea. I got the idea from a farmer in Iowa City who had an excess of cucumbers one summer. She bought an inexpensive vegetable juicer and made fresh cucumber juice ice cubes. I had a similar excess of cucumbers the same summer and copied her idea. The cucumber juice cubes were a great addition to mixed drinks, soda water, and just plain water. I felt fancy and sophisticated every time I had a "cucumber water".

I did not have an excess of cucumbers this past summer, so I don't have any cucumber juice cubes in my freezer, but I do have bags of cornelian cherry, elderberry and black currant cubes. I might have added some honey or sugar to the black currant juice as it can come out rather tart but sweetener is completely optional.