Ice Chewers can now enjoy the delicious Sonic Ice with Best Nugget Ice Makers of 2023

Different Types of Ice Cubes

Did we ever thought that there can be different shapes of our same old ice cube? I am sure that we never. But innovations of these new age ice makers change the entire scenario, now there are not only simple “water turned into ice”, there are different size and shapes of ice, which are meant to serve different purposes. Different types of ice are:

SQUARE CUBE ICE

These are the most commonly used since ages and can be used in different purposes as well. There are mainly two types are cube ice cubes; one is regular sized cubes for everyday purposes and the other is giant ice cubes to serve with fancy drinks and cocktails.

ICE NUGGETS

Small, bite sized chewable ice cubes, declared one of the popular ices by the “wall street journal” as well. These are somewhat dry, great for any kind of blending and best for munching as well. Ice nuggets are basically the perfect choice for any commercial places.

CRESCENT CUBES

These are basically simple ice cubes with some fancy crescent shape. These types of ice cubes are basically used to serve with fancy cocktails only.

HALF ICE CUBES

Half ice cubes are basically are half the size of classic ice cubes. These are incredibly smooth and look a bit like clear pat of butter only. These types of half cubes make a great accompany with a glass of alcoholic beverages.

ICE FLAKES

These are basically chunking of ice shaved into easily melt able portions. Ice flakes are basically a perfect choice for kids chilled drinks, food retail, healthcare, bakery and deli services.

Advantages of Nugget Ice Makers – Why you need to invest on one?

Though there are different types of ice can be made through different ice makers, but what makes nugget ice so popular among them all? Let us see some of the advantages of nugget ice makers over other types present in the market:

• As, nugget ice are so much light weight than regular ice, one can actually feel the weight difference in their smoothie cup from regular ice on an instance only. These are so many people remove the cover and straw from their smoothie cup so they can have a drink and ice combo poured into their mouth. These nugget ices are soft, chewable, cold and refreshing all at the same time.
• Nugget ice has rapid cooling qualities the any other types. Whether you’re using nugget ice for a beverage, injury, display or anything else, it cools off whatever it comes into contact with in minimum time possible. Take for example a sports injury, when you need ice to quickly cool down an injury, a bag filled with nugget ice cools down the area in half the time than any regular ice maker. Because of its small shape it can easily mold to the contour of the injury maximizing the surface area it touches.
• Nugget ice is known to retain the flavor of your beverage long after you finish as well. A crowd favorite as it gives the impression of better value since the flavor and experience last longer than with any other regular ice cubes. After downing a super cold drink, you have the benefit of chewing the newly flavored ice for an additional experience as well.
• When it comes to smoothies and blended cocktails, there is no other replacement for using nugget ice. It is perfect on its own and also for blended drinks such as banana smoothies or frozen margaritas. First of all, these nugget ice maker machines are able to quickly produce ice in very short amount of time and secondly, the ice is soft enough so that it won’t damage the blades of a blender, even with consistent use for longer period of time.
• Nugget ice is also used to keep salad bars cool when the bowls of lettuce and other vegetables are placed on top of it. The bowls shape molds right into the bed of nugget ice, which creates the perfect temperature for any food that needs to be kept cool for long.

Why Nugget Ice Maker Machines are so expensive?

It’s very convenient to think that an ice maker is a simple piece of device but in reality, they are more complex than any average refrigerator. Ice makers are generally made up of fairly pricey parts and materials, including copper, refrigerant, control boards, pumps, compressors, and stainless steel. Nugget ice machines need to create ice of a very particular size and specific shape, and consistency and they need to do this fairly quickly. To make nugget style ice, these ice machine first start by freezing ice in small sheets. Then the small flakes of ice that protrude are scraped off and these flakes are then compacted into little nuggets or pebbles. When you really think about it thoroughly, the price tag starts to make sense. And personally, I think it’s worth every penny you spent on them. It sounds like an exaggeration, but ice like this can really change your life. If that’s going too much extra for you, it can at least make having a drink more enjoyable.

Nugget vs Flake Ice – Which one is better for use?

Now, as you already decided to invest on a powerful ice making machine, now it is the time to invest, the next step is to decide which type of ice you actually need, which will serve all your purposes. There are both nugget style ice cubes and flake ice are both available in the market, along with other different shapes and sizes and both of these has their different advantages as well. Let us check out some of them-

Pearl / Nugget Cubes

Nugget ice are basically a slow melting cube that can cool drinks without foaming. These ice cubes are very soft compared to the cube ice, and because they are porous these are easily chewable as well. Nugget ice are an ideal for bar fountain beverages, blended cocktails, salad bars, produce displays, and for therapeutic uses.

Advantages of Pearl / Nugget Ice Cubes

• Easily chewable and will not crack teeth
• Absorbs the flavor of the drink that they are in
• Virtually no foam when pouring soda
• Easily dispensable
• Blends easily and quickly
• Will maximize the ice capacity in a drink

Flake Ice

On the other hand, this particular style is basically shaved ice cubes. These are very often seen in seafood or meat displays, salad bars, or for therapeutic uses and sometimes in blended cocktails as well. These types of cubes can easily mold in to any shape making them great for crocks and bowls in salad bars, or even patient care in the health care industry.

Advantages of Flake Ice

• Great for seafood and produce displays
• Packs well for catering transport to maintain temperatures of food
• Ideal for salad bars because bowls can easily be molded into the ice
• Perfect for health care when ice packs need to be filled

Now which type of ice works perfectly for you, is solely depends on what purposes you need to serve, if you are running a cold meat and fish shop, or regularly use seafood in your house, or a complete smoothie or chilled drink person, then flake ice will work best for you. But if you need the ice to serve to your guest with fancy drinks, then nugget ice is what you need.

How to Maintain the FirstBuild Opal Nugget Ice Maker?

Hard mineral deposits may not always be visible, but can wreak havoc on sensors in the case of any ice maker irrespective of brand and type. So, it is always important to properly maintain your nugget ice maker for its prolonged functionality.

Before cleaning the Opal nugget ice maker, turn off and unplug the unit from the power socket, and let sit for one hour and make it cool before cleaning.

If you are using a water filter inside the machine, remove the filter and reinstall the reservoir screen. See if you can remove any hard-mineral buildup that might be stuck at the top of the ice chute. This residue may not always be visible, but will impede ice production at a highest level.

Next, fill the reservoir with vinegar to the max fill line, and run up to three auto-cleaning cycles. If using vinegar, leave the vinegar and water mixture in the unit for a long 18 hours, and set a vinegar-soaked towel on the ice chute overnight to further dissolve any mineral buildup.

Clean the sensors with vinegar, and wipe clean with water to added cleanliness. After draining the vinegar out from the machine, run three rinse cycles, using only fresh water for better rinse.