Everything You Need to Know About Shaved Ice Desserts

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One of the world ’ sulfur oldest desserts is abruptly everywhere. Chef Sota Atsumi of Paris ’ s iconic Clown Bar recently served a foie gras kakigori, or Japanese-style shave ice, at a menu preview for his highly anticipated extroverted restaurant, Maison. At the Lobster Club in New York City, pastry chef Stephanie Prida serves a dolled-up kakigori dressed with blood orange in three forms : as a puree, candied zest, and a season creme anglaise. On the west coast, kakigori is besides on the menu at chef David Chang ’ s white fresh LA restaurant, Majordomo ; the stream adaptation is flavored with horchata. For her forthcoming restaurant Nightshade, chef Mei Lin plans to serve kakigori, and is playing about with different shapes of ice, which, when shaved, result in different textures .
But the snow-like japanese dessert is fair one of shave frost ’ s many iterations. The freeze dessert — in which blocks of ice are shaved into snow-like mounds ; slender, feather-like shards ; or curly twirl — is peculiarly popular in asian countries, where it can be found in different forms. It ’ s besides democratic in other parts of the earth, including but not express to Mexico, South America, the Middle East, and of course, the United States. While the names, flavors, and forms might differ from country to country, shave frosting is typically a street food, and priced accordingly .
hera now, a look at a diverseness of ice-based sweets from across the universe .

SHAVE ICE

JAPAN: Kakigori

A traditional summer regale found all over Japan, kakigori is said to date second a far as the 10th or eleventh hundred — though at that point it was reserved for japanese nobility, and didn ’ metric ton trickle down to the common people until the late 1800s, when industrialization made transporting ice much easier. A kakigori machine is fitted with a sharp blade that finely shaves ice off a large ( sometimes square, sometimes turn ) obstruct ; like Hawaiian shave ice or snow cones, it is typically made with plain, unflavored ice, piled into a towering pile in a knee bend cup or bowl, and then topped with season syrups. normally seen syrup flavors in Japan include fresh fruits like melon or strawberry ; matcha ( much paired with a drizzle of condense milk ) ; and mizore, which is a balmy but democratic white sugar syrup .
“ To me it ’ s a big cup of tea because the flavors are endless, it ’ sulfur capital [ for ] share, and it ’ s so fresh, ” Prida says. The Lobster Club uses a $ 2,000 internal-combustion engine shaving machine. large blocks of methamphetamine are loaded into the machine, and spin quickly over a stationary blade, producing up to four and a half pounds of downy shaved snow a minute .

HAWAII: Shave ice

hawaiian plane ice is one of the best-known forms of shave internal-combustion engine desserts. Descended from japanese kakigori, it was brought to the island by japanese plantation laborers. The first stands opened in the early 1900s to serve plantation workers a cooling treat during the hottest summer months. Like kakigori, it resembles all right downy snow and is topped with season syrups, which are quickly absorbed into the dessert thanks to the ice ’ mho powdered texture .
While most stands tend to rely on artificially flavored, brilliantly colored syrups that run the season gamut from blue boo to bubblegum, newer artisan-style stands make practice of locally develop ingredients, with flavors like lilikoi ( passionfruit ), soursop, and papaya. hawaiian shave ice is frequently served with a scoop of frost cream at its core, and/or topped with angelic bolshevik azuki beans .

SOUTH KOREA: Patbingsu/bingsu or bingsoo

In Korea, the shave-ice dessert known as patbingsu is so omnipresent that it ’ south even available at KFC. Similar to bao bing, patbingsu relies heavily on toppings ( though the snow-clad texture is more like kakigori ) : A knoll of shave frosting resembling a snowball is heaped into a bowl and adorned with ingredients like sweet loss beans ( the most essential patbingsu topping ), condensed milk, tteok ( rice cakes ), fruit, toasted soy gunpowder, and sometimes evening scoops of ice cream. The concoction is typically mix up with a smooch before devour .

Repts ShavedIce 3

TAIWAN/CHINA: Bao bing

Thought to have been served in China angstrom early as the seventh century, bao bing is one of the oldest forms of shave ice, and is besides found in Taiwan and Malaysia. It ’ south been popular in the U.S. for decades ( as evidenced by a 1989 New York Times history discussing the “ Americanization ” of the dish ). It is typically served piled high in a bowl, in a generous dowry entail for sharing ; fruit is about always involved, such as mango, litchi, or rambutan. red beans are besides democratic ; other possible garnishes include taro, peanuts, mochi, pot jelly, fruit syrups, or condensed milk .
Compared to Hawaiian shave frost, the texture of bao bing is less powdery or snow-like and more like thinly shaved sheets or flakes of ice : sometimes, it ’ randomness shaved from already flavored blocks of ice. Most Taiwanese-style shops buy pre-made, season blocks, though some make their own. much like its creamier counterpart fro-yo, bao bing shops in the U.S. offer a massive align of toppings, from fruit and beans to Oreos and gummi bears .

PHILIPPINES: Halo-halo

This Filipino front-runner is typically served in a tall, clear glass to show off its many elaborate and colorful layers. Ingredients can vary wildly depending on the season or personal taste, but it about constantly includes shave methamphetamine, fresh fruit such as jackfruit, evaporated milk, a jelly-like garnish such as nata de coconut ( coconut gel ), something crunchy ( frequently toasted gluey rice flakes, or even just Rice Krispies ), and ice cream ( normally ube, or imperial yam ). other ingredients frequently seen in halo-halo are palm nuts, mung beans, and shredded coconut. naturally, American chefs have put their own spin on halo-halo by topping it with breakfast cereal like Cap ’ n Crunch .

THAILAND: Nam kang sai

exchangeable to bao bing and patbingsu, Thailand ’ south adaptation of shave frost is all about the toppings. It ’ s sold by street vendors across the nation, who typically use hand-crank machines to shave their ice ; patrons can choose to concoct their own jazz band with ingredients like jackfruit, taro, dulcet corn, water chestnuts, and cubes of boodle. The mixture is frequently topped with sala syrup — an artificially season sweetness red syrup that ’ south besides used to make a popular drink called little finger milk — and/or coconut milk .

INDONESIA: Es campur

Found all over Indonesia, from street hawkers to full-service restaurants, es campur typically looks like a bowl of larger chunks of methamphetamine preferably than finely shaved snow. It is served in a shallow bowl or glass and floats in a concoction of diverse additions, normally including sweetened condense milk, pandan syrup, and possibly basil seeds, grass jelly, jackfruit, fermented cassava root, coconut, or avocado .

MALAYSIA: Ais kacang

sometimes called ABC, this angelic ice is served at falconer stands across Malaysia equally well as in Singapore. Ais kacang ( or “ methamphetamine kacang ” ) is made with improbable mounds of downy machine-shaved ice topped with respective season syrups like rose, pandan, or gula melaka ( handle sugar ) ; popular garnishes include crimson beans, durian, basil seeds, peanuts ( “ kacang ” means nuts or beans ), seaweed gelatin, sugared corn whiskey, sprinkles, and of class, the omnipresent condensed or evaporated milk .

PUERTO RICO: Piragua

A popular summer treat in the U.S. island territory, piraguas can besides be found in parts of the U.S. that have large boricua populations, such as New York and Florida. typically served in a formative cup, the methamphetamine is scraped by hand ( making it coarser than the downy snow found in kakigori ) and then mounded into a improbable pyramid shape before being topped with season syrup ; it is served with a strew to slurp up the dessert as the syrup and ice rink melt together. popular flavors include tamarind, coconut, sesame seed, passionfruit, pineapple, and melon. Variations on the dessert can be found throughout South America and are sometimes topped with dulce de leche or sweetened condense milk .

MEXICO: Raspado

Popular all all over Mexico ampere well as in areas of the U.S. with significant Mexican immigrant populations, such as LA, raspados are Mexico ’ randomness version of the snow cone. ( Raspado comes from raspar, spanish for “ to scrape. ” ) Raspados are traditionally scraped by hired hand with a metallic element joyride called a raspador. normally served in a plastic cup with a straw for slurping as the ice and syrup melt together, they come topped with fruit, syrup, and/or milk ; the most omnipresent flavors include tamarind and rompope ( eggnog ). similar desserts are popular in Cuba ( where they ’ ra referred to as granizado ) and numerous romance american countries, including Colombia ( cholado ) .

PERU/BOLIVIA: Shikashika

Found lone in Peru and Bolivia, shikashika ( besides called raspadilla ) has one unique characteristic that sets it apart from every other type of plane ice dessert : It is made with glacier frost brought polish from the Andes. The subject of a 2008 documentary called simply Shikashika, the process of obtaining the frost blocks can be agonizing, but it provides meaning occupation for local rural economies. Once the ice blocks are transported from the mountains into towns, they are shaved ; topped with season syrups, beloved, and/or milk ; and served in a pint glass with a spoon.

INDIA: Gola/Chuski

A democratic summer treat at street-food vendors across India, gola ( besides called chuski ) has a coarse texture, like a snow cone, and is frequently cook via a hand-crank machine. The ice rink is compressed into a cup, soaked with syrup — popular flavors include mango, rose, and kala khatta, which is made with blackberry and cumin — and then slid onto a stick before helping, looking something like a loanblend of shave ice rink and a ice lolly. The dessert is besides served in Pakistan, where it ’ sulfur typically referred to as gola ganda .

Repts ShavedIce 5

OTHER SHAVE ICE DESSERTS

IRAN: Faloodeh

It would be impossible to compile a number of ice-based sweets without including faloodeh. Considered one of the oldest known freeze desserts, iranian faloodeh dates binding to the one-fourth century B.C. and is flavored with one of Middle Eastern cuisine ’ s most classifiable flavors : rosewater. With a bathetic texture exchangeable to granita, it ’ s prepared by making a syrup with water, sugar, lime juice, rosewater, and then freezing it. ( It ’ randomness sometimes made with orange yellow, which gives it a discrete golden hue. ) It ’ sulfur much topped with a sour cerise syrup, pistachios, or clean lime juice. Faloodeh stands out from other icy desserts because it ’ mho mix with crushed-up noodles, which gives it a singular texture ; thin, translucent rice vermicelli noodles are normally used, but the noodles can besides be made with early starches such as achira or potato starch .

UNITED STATES: Snow cones, Sno-balls, Italian ice, etc.

Across the U.S., the most popular class of shave ice dessert is the snow cone. It is typically made from finely crushed, rather than shaved, ice and consequently has a coarse, crunchier texture than hawaiian shave ice. The bamboozle cone is said to have been invented in 1919 ; one year late, a man named Samuel Bert devised the first snow cone machine and began selling the treats at the State Fair of Texas .
Seasonal snow cone stands can now be found all over the United States, with patrons lining up during the summer months to order paper cones or styrofoam cups filled with mounds of cool, crunchy ice rink topped with numerous season syrups. The most common flavors include fruits like cherry, strawberry, grapeshot, and lemon-lime, and concoctions like “ tiger ’ s blood ” ( watermelon, strawberry, and coconut ). Snow cone stands besides frequently offer ice cream as an accession ; a exclusive of ice skim ( about always vanilla ) is placed in a cup and then topped off with a layer of ice and syrup. In late years more unusual flavors, like pickle, have besides become popular, as have artisanal snow cone shops that serve all-natural syrups made with fresh fruits or ingredients like Earl Grey tea .
Snowballs, or sno-balls, as they are frequently referred to, are a coke cone variation particularly popular in Louisiana. Like bamboozle cones, they are made with apparent unflavored ice rink and then topped with season syrup. But as the names indicate, the treats are made with shave ice rink versus crushed internal-combustion engine, giving them a downy, snow-like texture. ( “ The New Orleans sno-ball and the omnipresent bamboozle cone are adenine different as 10,000 thread count egyptian cotton and an acrylic perspirer, ” writes Eater NOLA editor Stephanie Carter and co-author Nora McGunnigle. ) One of the most iconic sno-ball shops is arguably Hansen ’ s Sno-Bliz in New Orleans, which has won a James Beard Award and serves alone flavors like bananas Foster. Though most popular in New Orleans, the snowball actually got its start in Baltimore during the Industrial Revolution, when ice trucks passing through the city would stop and give ice shavings to kids, and adults would add flavorings ; late, they were served in movie theaters as a room to keep patrons cool during the summer .
( besides popular in the Northeastern U.S. is a Philadelphia-born regale called water frosting, but it doesn ’ t quite fit here : Made from water, sugar, and fruit juice, it ’ mho produced more like a dairy-free ice cream, with a texture that ’ s cream pitcher than the chondritic or powdered find of shave ice or a snow cone. )
italian ice, another regional american ice-based dessert, is often flavored with lemon. sometimes smooth enough to sip out of a strew like freeze lemonade, it ’ s more much creamy enough to spoon out of a cup, and is a proportional of granita, a treat from southern Italy .

ITALY: Granita

The freeze dessert most frequently associated with Italy is gelato, but granita is another popular warm-weather dainty, particularly in its birthplace : sicily. In the summer, Sicilians frequently forego their dawn cornetto pastries in party favor of a cooling granita to pair with their espresso. Served in a field glass, ice-cream sundae dish, or a small composition cup, it has an frigid, crystalline texture ; unlike other plane ice desserts that are made with season syrups poured over plain methamphetamine, granita is made by flavoring the melted before it ’ sulfur frozen with fruit juice or other ingredients .
rather than being shaved to order like hawaiian shave ice or bao bing, granita syrup is agitated as it ’ second frozen to create a slenderly farinaceous texture. It ’ sulfur then scooped out of metal troughs, like gelato. Fruit flavors such as lemon and strawberry are particularly popular, but granita besides comes in non-fruit varieties like pistachio and chocolate. It is sometimes topped with a dollop of blister cream .
Whitney Filloon is Eater ’ s aged associate editor program. Esra Erol is Eater ’ s social media director.
editor program : Daniela Galarza
Fact-checked by Dawn Mobley
Special thanks to Sam Kim

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