Shave ice or Hawaiian shave ice is an ice-based dessert made by shaving a block of ice and flavoring it with

syrup In cooking, syrup (less commonly sirup; from ; , beverage, wine and ) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a Solution (chemistry), solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but ...

and other sweet ingredients. On Hawai‘i Island, it is also referred to as "ice shave". In contrast, a snow cone, a similar American dessert, is made with crushed ice rather than shaved ice. The thin ice shavings of shave ice allow for the flavored syrups to be absorbed completely instead of sinking to the bottom. Hawaiian shave ice is derived from a similar ice-based dessert from Japan called '' kakigōri'' and thus involves similar production methods. Shave ice is characteristically served in a conical paper or plastic cup with flavored syrups poured over the top with additional elements like

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

, azuki beans, or condensed milk. Shave ice syrups in Hawaii are often flavored with local ingredients such as

guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

, coconut cream, passionfruit, '' li hing mui'' (Chinese plums), lychee,

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

, and

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

History

Japan

The history of Hawaiian shave ice can be traced back to one particular ice-based dessert that originates from Japan's

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, which spanned the

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

through 12th centuries CE. This dessert is known as ''kakigōri'' and was once reserved for the wealthy because of the complex production process of ice, which was only accessible in the winter and refrigeration relied on natural sources like ice houses. During the early 1900s of the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, the development of new technologies allowed ice to be cheaply made and stored, allowing for greater consumption among various types of people. Around the same time, sugar plantations prolifically developed across Hawaii, and many people from Asian countries relocated to the Hawaii islands in hopes of earning a steady income. The Japanese were among this immigrant population and brought with them their traditional ice-based dessert called kakigōri.

Hawaii

In Hawaiian Pidgin, a native Hawaiian language, kakigōri became known as shave ice. Shave ice was first sold by Japanese immigrants to plantation workers in the early 1900s and became a regular product in many Japanese owned grocery stores by the 1950s. The rise of shave ice coincided with the increasing significance of ice in Hawaiian history as shown in trade agreements between the United States and the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Apri ...

where numerous references are made to this important commodity. Because ice signified status and provided comfort to settlers on the island, it was an essential factor in the U.S. colonization of Hawaii. Hawaiian shave ice sales began to rise in the

1950s File:1950s decade montage.png, 370x370px, Top, L-R: U.S. Marines engaged in street fighting during the Korean War, late September 1950; The first polio vaccine is developed by Jonas Salk.Centre, L-R: US tests its first thermonuclear bomb with co ...

and

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

with the arrival of Californian surfers. By the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

, shave ice stores, such as Oahu's Matsumoto Shave Ice and Waiola Shave Ice stores, garnered the attention of international visitors. Matsumoto's has been featured in news networks all around the world including

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

and the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

. It can have wait times of over half an hour, and sell more than 1,000 shave ice treats a day and 326,400 shave ices in a year. While shave ice originated in Japan and gained popularity in Hawaii, it has spread to other parts of the world. In Europe, especially in Berlin, shave ice gained popularity due to features in newspapers. In 2023, it was also featured on the German TV channel ZDF at ZDF Fernsehgarten.

Components

Ingredients

Many variations of shave ice can also be found in Hawaii. Shave ice in its simplest form is composed of thinly shaved ice and syrup served in a cup, paper cone, or bowl. Distinct from snow cones that use crushed ice, the ice for Hawaiian shave ice is thinly shaved to create a unique texture that is more powdery and snow-like. Additionally, the thin ice shavings can absorb syrups better than crushed ice. The ice can be made in house by freezing pure water in containers very slowly over a period of days, while constantly agitating the mixture to ensure impurities are not incorporated. Traditional syrups are made from sugar, flavoring extracts, and additional coloring elements with acid incorporated to enhance preservation. Syrups are often flavored with local ingredients such as banana, pineapple, lilikoi ( passionfruit), guava, lychee, kiwifruit, mango, and coconut cream, and are found in other regions around the world, such as in '' bingsu'' (Korean), '' tshuah-ping'' (Taiwanese), and '' halo-halo'' (Filipino) shave ice variants. Bubble gum, vanilla, lemon-lime,

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

, strawberry, cherry, grape, watermelon, coke, root beer, and fruit punch have also been incorporated into syrups for shave ice. New syrup flavors are constantly being developed including more unusual ones such as li hing mui (salty dried Chinese plums), melona,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, and pickled mango. These syrups are often quite vibrant with certain colors traditionally representing specific flavors, such as blue for

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

. These color-flavor associations enable customers to order syrups by color instead of using their flavors for reference. When many different colors of syrups are combined, it is referred to as “kalakoa” which means calico in Hawaiian.

Additional elements

Additional ingredients that lie underneath the ice flakes are often called "unders" and must be added to the cup, cone, or bowl before shaving the ice on top. Traditional "unders" include sweetened red azuki beans, fresh

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

s, and ice cream. Hawaiian shave ice is also often accompanied by toppings such as

mochi A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the ...

balls, li hing mui (salty dried Chinese plums) powder, fresh fruits, and ice cream. A "snowcap" specifically refers to topping shave ice with sweetened condensed milk.

Production

Traditionally, the ice flakes for shave ice are made with tools or machines that are operated manually. In the Hawaiian sugar plantation fields, workers used to shave ice flakes with machetes from large ice blocks, on which they would then pour fruit juice. In modern times, while some still use hand-cranked machines, most shave ice stands use electric block shavers or cube ice shavers. Block shavers require a specific size of ice block that can be made by freezing water in specific molds. After the ice block is taken out of the freezer, it needs to be tempered by leaving it out at room temperature for roughly 15 minutes so it begins to melt slightly. This ensures that the ice flakes are firm enough to hold the syrup but also soft enough to eat with a spoon. A container (cup, paper cone, or bowl) should be placed under the shaving machine to collect the ice flakes, and "unders" (ingredients for the bottom such as

and azuki beans) should be added before shaving. The ice block will then be carefully inserted into the shave ice machine on top of sharp blades. For some machine models, blades should be adjusted to avoid chunky ice flakes that are used in snow cones and preserve the fluffy texture of true shaved ice. The machine can be activated either by button or foot pedal. While the machine runs, the operator rotates the container and shapes the ice flakes with one hand to get the intended size and consistency. Once the ice flakes are ready, different kinds of syrup (artificially or naturally flavored) will be added on the surface. Some shave ice stands also punch holes with hard sticks in the ice so that the syrup can reach the bottom. Finally, toppings such as condensed milk and fruit are added for more flavor.

Varieties

Many global variants of ice-based desserts that are similar to Hawaiian shave ice can be found in a number of different countries.

Ice cake

Ice cake was popular in the past on Hawaiian sugar plantation camps. Unlike shave ice, the ice for ice cake is served directly out of the freezer. The ice cubes for this treat consist of a mixture of condensed milk, syrup, and water and are frozen in aluminum ice cube trays.

References

External links

{{Ice-based snacks Hawaiian cuisine Hawaiian desserts Ice-based desserts