I know spring has only begun, but that doesn’t mean we can’t think and crave summer foods right? One particular ingredient pops into my mind: Shaved Ice. Ice is such a versatile ingredient when it comes to creating a delicious dessert, especially when consuming it under the hot, humid sun, nothing is quite like how ice just melts in your mouth to cool you off.
So what exactly do you add to shaved ice to make it so good? It’s all about the ingredients baby.
This is Ippudo’s shaved ice dessert. It has red bean, mochi, strawberries, condensed milk and topped with a cherry. I believe Larry and I devoured this dessert in minutes. Can you blame us?
However this dessert is most common in Asia, namely Taiwan. The tropical weather, humid and hot, is best suited for some delicious ice. Hot Weather + Shaved Ice = Immense Satisfaction. There are many different combinations for ice:
This is Azabu Sabo’s Black Sesame Ice with Soft Serve. Yes, that black stuff is the black sesame and not random goo. The black sesame is mildly sweet but in conjunction with the soft serve and condensed milk creates a perfect combination of nutty and sweet flavors.
This is a traditional Taiwanese shaved ice dessert. What’s awesome is that you can choose what ingredients you want. How much is this bowl? I believe it’s close to $2.00. Insane isn’t it?! I happily picked out my favorite things: red bean, QQ jelly, tong yuan, condensed milk, and tapioca. It’s a whole bowl of delicious chewiness…:drool drool:
Calling ALL mango lovers…my most favorite: MANGO ICE. This place called Ice Monster offers this in the summer, which mangoes are abundant and naturally sweet. Imagine this…mango + mango ice cream + ice + condensed milk. This cannot be denied. Devoured? Yes. Instantaneous.
In conclusion, shaved ice is the best kind of dessert you can have on a sunny, hot day. For now we can just think about it until summer comes…then scarf away on ice. That is if you can handle the brain freeze.