Facts About Frozen Treats From Across The US That Made Us Scream

Along with its pineapple, spam, and coffee, Hawaii boasts yet another culinary treat: shave ice. It's simple but delicious, and features flavored syrup poured over a cup of ice shaved from a block. 

While it's a straightforward frozen treat, shave ice (never shaved ice, much to many editors' chagrin) has a surprising history that connects to Hawaii's sugarcane plantations and the Japanese workers who kept them running. As Kim Severson reported for the Honolulu Star Advertiser:

[Shave ice] came to Hawaii by way of sugar plantation laborers from Okinawa and other parts of Japan, where eating kaki-gori - the Japanese term for sweetened shaved ice - dates to the royal families of the Heian period.

Japanese immigrants opened small stores to serve plantation workers in the early 1900s, some of which sold shave ice. By the 1950s shave ice was sold regularly at many Japanese-owned mom-and-pops such as M. Matsumoto Grocery Store on the North Shore.

Made from shaved ice and syrup, sno-cones are a nostalgic summertime treat. But residents of New Orleans have something a little different: sno-balls (sometimes spelled snowballs), which are smoother than traditional sno-cones.

It all started in the 1930s, when two local inventors - George Ortolano and Ernest Hansen - each debuted versions of electric ice-shaving machines. Before the inventions, ice had to be hand-shaved. The machines from Ortolano and Hansen “produced a much finer ice than what was previously achieved through the hand-chipping method,” according to Southern Living.

Claude Black, owner of Plum Street Snowballs in New Orleans, explained to Southern Foodways Alliance how the frozen novelty's texture sets it apart:

There are some other varieties of ice-crushers that make what's commonly known in other parts of the country as sno-cones. But those sno-cones, the texture of the ice is nothing close to what a sno-ball machine can make. A sno-ball machine is going to make ice like you have snow falling from the sky. 

If the Golden Gate Bridge is the physical symbol of San Francisco, the city's edible symbol is likely the creative ice cream sandwich called It's-It.

George Whitney created the treat in 1928 to sell at Playland at the Beach, his old-school seaside amusement park. The public ate Its-Its up, and the specialty sandwiches became a signature treat at the park.

By the early 1970s, Playland wasn't the attraction it used to be, and the operating costs were becoming too much to bear. The Whitney family sold it off, and Playland was demolished in 1972. 

Fortunately, It's-Its survived Playland; Whitney gave the recipe to fellow San Franciscan George Mavros, who continued selling the treat, which comprises ice cream sandwiched between two locally baked oatmeal cookies, then fully coated in chocolate. 

The company, which has expanded over the years and can now ship It's-Its nationally, offers vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint, cappuccino, and pumpkin ice cream flavors. 

Wisconsin takes dairy seriously - and that includes frozen custard, a richer, creamier cousin of ice cream. The state takes frozen custard so seriously, in fact, that it actually adopted a legally binding definition of the dessert. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:

In the spring of [1932], the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture launched a campaign against ice cream vendors marketing an inferior product labeled as frozen custard. State law required custard ice cream or frozen custard to have 13% butterfat, but according to the Appleton Post-Crescent, the department had found only 6% butterfat in certain frozen custard it tested. Stores and restaurants were using “a machine which turns the frozen product out rapidly,” according to the Manitowoc Herald-Times, and our state wasn't going to stand for that. 

Wisconsin's reputation as a custard connoisseur earned Milwaukee the nickname “Custard Capital of the World.” And while the northern state has embraced frozen custard, the dessert did not originate there. Instead, its roots are in 1919 at Coney Island in New York, where the Kohr brothers added egg yolks to ice cream to make it even smoother.

Carvel has been a favorite ice cream destination in the Northeastern US for several decades. It all started with Greek immigrant Tom Carvel (originally Karvelas), who, by a fortunate accident, began selling partially melted frozen custard from his broken-down ice cream truck - and customers adored it. In 1936, he formally started his business.

In subsequent years, the company would expand to include novelty frozen treats. Among Carvel's most popular delectables are Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale, both of which are ice cream cakes. Fudgie debuted in 1977, with Carvel marketing it as a Father's Day special. The feline cookie cake character reached its own stratospheric fame. It became a reference in the 1983 Beastie Boys song “Cooky Puss” and was also a point of discussion on Howard Stern's show. 

With its red, yellow, and blue color scheme that mimics Superman's outfit, Superman ice cream is one of Michigan's hidden delights. 

Despite its association with the Kryptonian, the ice cream pre-dates the superhero. Only after Superman was invented in 1933, however, did the treat take on its heroic name. Originally, it was served up in Detroit in the 1920s at Stroh's Brewery, which combined three ice cream flavors: lemon, red pop, and blue moon. 

But what exactly does “blue moon” taste like? It's controversial. People have described it in a number of ways. As Food & Wine reported, people describe it in a number of ways:

Blue moon ice cream is not only memorable because of its vivid shade, but also because of its mysterious flavor. No one can agree on what it actually tastes like; some claim it tastes of citrus with strong hints of vanilla, while others swear it is flavored with almond extract. Some say it tastes like a bowl of Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles; others say it is cotton candy and bubble gum. Recipes to re-create the flavor at home commonly call for raspberry and lemon.

Although blue moon itself remains a debated topic, there's one thing almost everyone agrees on: Superman ice cream is super-delicious.