New Orleans Snoballs
What a New Orleans snoball is NOT:
a snow cone
a pre-frozen, rock-hard concoction
New Orleans snoballs are a product of locally made, carefully stored, and expertly shaved-to-order ice. The sugary syrups that color and flavor a New Orleans snoball are equally important to the final product, and each snoball maker protects his own syrup recipes. In a subtropical city like New Orleans, these flavored ice tradition dates back to a time when vendors shaved the ice by hand and carried just a small selection of flavorings. Early flavors were limited to sometimes strawberry, spearmint, and pineapple syrups to flavor the coarse scraped ice. Then, in around the 1930s, two snoball pioneers—George Ortolano and Ernest Hansen—independently built the city’s first electric ice-shaving machines. This machine at the company are proprietary to New Orleans.
In spite of the snoball’s nostalgic appeal, flavor innovation is rampant. There are many new, unique flavors getting made all the time: king cake flavor, praline, mango & chamoy, and many more syrup flavors. Some places have even stuffed snoballs like an orange dreamsicle with soft-serve ice cream. Snoballs are easily customizable and adaptable, with more new-school flavoring styles with minimally sweetened fresh-fruit juices and even sugar free syrups.
One word can be used to describe snoballs: “Fun!”