Imagine you are a child living in the 1950s. It is a hot day and the walk home from school has been very hard - and hot! You hope that Mum has something nice and cool to enjoy when you get home. She often makes you a cold drink and your favourites are when she makes her special lemonade and pours it over a glass of crushed ice. There's nothing so delicious or refreshing as a glass of icy cold lemonade, and you quite enjoy eating the ice at the end too!
When I showed the children this vintage ice crusher, they were entirely perplexed by what it could be for. The children quickly decided it was some kind of kitchen tool as the device was so well made, but they couldn't think of a use for it. Some children eventually suggested it was for smashing potatoes in 'like when you mash them, just a bit and then bake them till they're really crispy'. When I explained that it was actually for crushing ice they thought that seemed more sensible, and enjoyed trying it out. The older children thought it was really very easy to use and did a great job of crushing up the cubes, but the younger children struggled to work the device at all.
Crushed or shaved ice desserts have been popular for possibly centuries, with some suggesting the first use was actually during the reign of Emperor Nero whose servants gathered snow from the mountains and mixed it with fruit to create something delicious. Certainly, Ice has been a popular part of desserts for many, many years. More recently, snowballs, snow cones and Italian ice have been popular. These are all slightly different, with snowballs and Italian ice being shaved. The most famous of these treats though, the snow cone, uses crushed ice.
Snow cones are a staple part of fairs and shows throughout the world, so it is perhaps fitting that it was at such a show that the snow cone made its debut. It was at the State Fair of Texas, 1919 that East Dallas resident Samuel Bert began selling the iced confection. The snow cone was made up of crushed ice and flavoured syrup which was poured over. Bert, affectionally known as King Sammy, patented his ice crushing machine the following year and by the 1950s the snow cone was a staple of fairs and shows. The snowball is very similar, but uses finely shaved ice and more syrup. They have their roots back in the industrial revolution when some ice men, particularly in Baltimore, gave the shavings from their ice to local children whose parents would then add their own flavourings.