Why do my huge bone broth ice cubes become tiny puddles when melted?
I made some bone broth soup and froze it in ice-cube trays.
When I melt these huge ice cubes (via microwaving), they melt down to a tiny puddle of bone broth.
What gives?
Best Answer
We (humans) can be pretty bad at estimating volume by eye, especially if you're putting a bunch of cubes in one bowl - they don't pack efficiently (there's a lot of air in there). You might not actually be losing that much volume.
For example, I just dumped out an ice cube tray full of cubes, and they looked like a bit over 2 cups, but once melted (and I checked by weight, I didn't lose any!), they're about one cup:
The ice is a bit (~7%) less dense than water, but the rest of that apparent 2x reduction in volume is just the packing inefficiency. Depending on the size/shape of your cubes and the size of the vessel you're melting in, it could get exaggerated even more.
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Answer 2
Not sure if this is much of a culinary question, but I'll take a stab at it.
One of two things are happening here... 1. You're overheating it. Some of the liquid has evaporated off. 2. A cube takes up more volume than it's liquid version.
I suspect a bit of both. Try reducing the power, and increasing the time. Or melt it a little bit, stir it around, melt it some more, repeat.... That'll reduce the effect of 1.
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