Snow cone
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A Snow cone is a popular kind of beverage that is prepared with ice and syrup. Snow cones come in various flavors.
History
It is said that about on 27 BC, snow would be brought over from the mountains to large European cities, where they would be covered with snow. This was called a "snow ball".
In 1934, inventor Ernest Hansen patented the first known "Ice block shaver" in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was inspired to create a more refined and hygenic version of the popular "Italian Ice" sold from push-carts in the city. His wife Mary created many flavors of fresh syrups to flavor his finely shaved artificial "snow". "Snow balls" have been popular in New Orleans since, where they are often known as "Sno-Balls". As of 2004 Hansen, now over 90, still sometimes works at the origininal "Hansen's Sno-Bliz" in uptown New Orleans, although his granddaughter has taken over much of the workload.
Eventually, "Snow balls" became known as "sno-cones", and their popularity grew worldwide.
Usually, the snow cones are sold at stadiums, coliseums, Ice cream vans or by car peddlers at parks.
Snow cones are crushed either by hand or with specialized, ice-crushing machines.
Names and variations
In the United States, snow cones are produced mostly as a ball-shaped treat. In Puerto Rico, they are named "piragua", because they are made in pyramid shapes. Most Puerto Rican snow cone vendors are street snow cone car peddlers. "Agua" means water in Spanish, hence the name "pir-agua".
In Mexico, snow cones are named "raspado", because the word raspar means "scratch", hence the name "raspado", as in "scratched ice".
Snow cones are also sometimes called "Italian water ice", or simply "water ice".
Popular flavors
Here is a list of some popular snow cone flavors;