Snow Cream

[Ladybug]

We have snow today, and where I live, that only happens once a year if we're lucky. My kids are so excited because whenever it snows, I make snow cream. My mother made it when I was a pup and it seems like a nice tradition to pass on.

I've never done anything except plain vanilla but with all this lovely snow outside, I think it'd be neat to try something new. The snow cream I made today was fine - vanilla, sugar, milk & cream (and snow) - and it turned out to be very icy, but I don't expect a great texture when I'm only mixing these ingredients in a Kitchen-Aid and serving it immediately.

So, how do you make yours? Suggestions?

[Toliver]

As a Southern California native, this is completely new and utterly foreign to me.

Is it like an ice milk? A Slushee? A Slurpee?

[Mudpuppie]

As a Southern California native, this is completely new and utterly foreign to me.

Is it like an ice milk? A Slushee? A Slurpee?

How sweet! We had this on occasion when I was growing up too, but nothing fancy -- just snow and vanilla.

Of course, this was in Texas and there was never more than a little snow, so you had to pick the inevitable blades of grass.

[Ladybug]

As a Southern California native, this is completely new and utterly foreign to me.

Is it like an ice milk? A Slushee? A Slurpee?

I guess it's sort of like ice milk. It's definitely icy. You can scoop it versus pour it. What I know of it is this: take a big bowl of (clean) snow, add sugar, milk (and/or cream if you have it) and vanilla. I sort of eyeball this. Blend. Eat immediately. It's actually pretty good - it tastes pure and clean and fresh, but only if you use clean snow. Last year I let the kids get the snow. BIG mistake - they scraped it right off the car, which wasn't any too clean. The snow cream tasted like dirt and metal somehow. Of course, they couldn't tell the difference. If it has sugar in it, they're happy. Ugh. This year I gathered the snow with a spatula, scraping only the top 1/4 inch or so until I had enough. It was still snowing at the time, so I figured it was pretty fresh. I always wonder whether there's anything weird in the snow from pollution, but today it tasted so fresh that I don't see how it could be really polluted.

[kthull]

Ok, I can't resist. This is the most bizarre thing I have ever heard! I know I ate snow as a kid, but now that I'm an adult (and think I know better ), and the fact that I live in the Chicago area, I'm pretty certain the snow is never clean enough to eat.

Blades of grass? Dirt and metal???

However, I do think it's cool that there's a group of you that do this, and I mean no disrespect.

Just fascinating...

[Pan]

If you're sure that the snow is too polluted to eat, what about your tap water? Where does Chicagoland's tap water come from, anyway? And, getting back onto the subject, would it be possible to make decent ice cream using crushed ice from the freezer?

[BettyK]

I think I'll pass the snow and rain water. We had a water break on new year's day (yeah, so much fun) and we had to wait until the next day to have it fixed. Well, all the stores were closed and our only option was to melt snow for the bathroom. I wish I could show you a picture of the residue. We live very far from any large cities so I don't think it makes any difference. Snow is dirty.

[fifi]

Aw, it isn't THAT dirty. ice crystals (snowflakes) form around a microscopic piece of dust, pollen, whatever that is floating in the air. You are breathing it so what is the difference? While I wouldn't want to eat snow downstream of some belching factory, for the most part it isn't any dirtier than the rest of the world. The world has never been the pristine place some would have us believe. So I say go ahead and make snow cream with the kiddies. The few times that we got enough snow here in Houston to do that, snow cream was the first thing to happen. If there was a forecast for snow, the stores would sell out of cream. One time we stirred some sweetened condensed milk into some milk and used that. It was wonderful.

[hannnah]

Well, there are enough people who were tired of waiting for it to snow enough for snow cream in East Tennessee that Mayfield brought out commercially produced snow cream this past fall. It's pretty good - a little sweeter than I'd make it myself, but entirely acceptable.

I'd love to know how they get the texture right - it wasn't quite like fresh, but I suspect if you left it out to thaw for a few minutes it'd be pretty close. I may have to stop by the factory next time we're home and ask. I also wish they sold it up here. We live next to the airport, and there's no such thing as clean snow.

[Mudpuppie]

After reading and re-reading this thread, I just want to say that I feel very cheated. Maybe this belongs in the "Not again, Mom!" thread, but still. Who knew that people made snow ice cream with actual cream and sugar? We just had snow + vanilla. Y'all don't know how good you have it, acid rain or no.

Jeez.

[fifi]

And we had to trudge through it five miles to school, uphill, both ways.

[ludja]

Bill Neal in Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie has a wonderful (nearly poetic) discussion and recipe on snow cream. The recipe is similar to some described above.

(Wish I could quote it here, but as far as I can tell that would be violating copyright?)

His writing has a lot more to it than the recipe, but thought I would summarize that. He recommends placing it lightly in chilled dishes (not packing down). Lightly thicken some cream by whipping with sugar and vanilla. He also mentions in classic Southern style that a '"dose of bourbon in the cream will warm all".

He mentions this as a special treat in North Carolina when the occasional snow (not sleet or freezing rain) arrived perfect for making snow cream with his kids.

[MHesse]

Just watch out where the huskies go.

[Ladybug]

Wow, I had no idea anyone would worry so much about the snow being clean! I mean, I have worried, but not to the extent that I wouldn't eat it. It can't be worse than eating torakris' squid guts kimchi, right?

Edited to say that I draw the line at yellow snow.

Edited January 10, 2004 by Ladybug (log)

[Katherine]

Wow, I had no idea anyone would worry so much about the snow being clean! I mean, I have worried, but not to the extent that I wouldn't eat it. It can't be worse than eating torakris' squid guts kimchi, right?

Edited to say that I draw the line at yellow snow.

Where do you live? Somewhere that you've been unable to observe the process of pristine white snow becoming mixed with dirt, sand and salt?

Newfallen snow only, please.

[Ladybug]

Wow, I had no idea anyone would worry so much about the snow being clean!  I mean, I have worried, but not to the extent that I wouldn't eat it.  It can't be worse than eating torakris' squid guts kimchi, right? 

Edited to say that I draw the line at yellow snow.

Where do you live? Somewhere that you've been unable to observe the process of pristine white snow becoming mixed with dirt, sand and salt?

Newfallen snow only, please.

I live in North Carolina - "in the boonies" is what my relatives from Detroit would say. There are no factories or nuclear power stations nearby. We live on a dead end street with no close neighbors and almost no traffic. And I do only use newfallen snow, but that's hardly avoidable because it only snows here about once per year. We're all so excited to see the snow, so as soon as there's enough out there, we're gathering it to make snow cream.

Is the snow never clean in the city?

[McDuff]

Last time I ate snow I got stomach cramps almost immediately. I can't imagine the particulate matter it picks up on the way down. I wouldn't drink rain water either.

[Pan]

What water do you drink?

[Katherine]

Wow, I had no idea anyone would worry so much about the snow being clean!  I mean, I have worried, but not to the extent that I wouldn't eat it.  It can't be worse than eating torakris' squid guts kimchi, right? 

Edited to say that I draw the line at yellow snow.

Where do you live? Somewhere that you've been unable to observe the process of pristine white snow becoming mixed with dirt, sand and salt?

Newfallen snow only, please.

I live in North Carolina - "in the boonies" is what my relatives from Detroit would say. There are no factories or nuclear power stations nearby. We live on a dead end street with no close neighbors and almost no traffic. And I do only use newfallen snow, but that's hardly avoidable because it only snows here about once per year. We're all so excited to see the snow, so as soon as there's enough out there, we're gathering it to make snow cream.

Is the snow never clean in the city?

I don't live in the "city", but the more snow you get, the more dirt, sand, and salt they have to throw on the roads to make them safe, and the sooner the snow gets gray and brown.

Deep snow is less enchanting when you have to move it on a regular basis.

[sparrowgrass]

Seems to me that snow cream is a southern thing--my Minnesota neighbors had never heard of it.

If you burn wood, get your snow far from the house. Hickory smoked ice cream is yucky.

Rain water is lovely to drink, and even better to wash your hair with--soft, soft, soft.

[bleachboy]

What water do you drink?

Indeed, I thought most of us drank Water Cycle brand water. Perhaps some eGulletters have built their own water machines!

[Pan]

Well-done, bleachboy.

[Mudpuppie]

Hey, as for your thirst for rainwater: http://www.mybusinessmag.com/fullstory.php3?sid=920

Maybe this has already been mentioned around here. Apologies if so.

[McDuff]

What water do you drink?

I mean I wouldn't dip it out of the rain barrel on the back porch. Or slurp it off a cupped hosta leaf in the garden. And as far as the water in the pond down the street, W.C. Fields said it first and best. I like a little chlorine and whatnot, make that stuff inert if you don't mind.

[joiei]

I have never had snow cream. I have had snow cones, are they related?

Growing up in Northwest Florida, we did not get too much snow, ever.