Have you heard people talking about shaved snow, snow cream, milk fluff, fluff ice, milk snow, or shaved ice cream and wondered what they’re talking about? These are all just different names for more or less the same thing – shaved ice cream. But what is shaved ice cream? We were curious too so we did a little digging and here’s what we found out:

Inspired by the Taiwanese dessert xue hua bing, shaved ice cream is made by freezing milk with a variety of different flavor combinations into cylinders. The cylinders are then loaded into a machine that spins the cylinder and shaves of the bottom layer into paper-thin ribbons or shreds of creamy, fluffy, shaven ice cream goodness. Then, syrups and toppings such as fresh fruits, whipped cream, or even candy are added.

Where Shaved Ice Cream Comes From

Shaved ice cream as it’s found in the United States today is based on Taiwanese shaved ice, xue hua bing, which literally translates to “snow flower”, or snowflake.

Xue hua bing first came to the United States from Taipei around the early 90s, but it’s only in the last few years that we’ve seen enterprising entrepreneurs here create somewhat more Americanized versions of it, which they’ve given proprietary names like shaved snow, snow cream, fluff ice, or… shaved ice cream.

Ice-based desserts are popular hot weather refreshments in all over the globe, but Asia definitely has some of the most diverse options, hands down.

Taiwanese shaved ice is an ultra-delicious twist on the more standard water-based shaved ices, since frozen milk or cream is gives a totally different texture than just water alone. This makes for a really buttery, creamy consistency that most shave ices don’t have.

What Does Shaved Ice Cream Taste Like?

Like freshly fallen snow or frozen cotton candy. Well the texture, anyway. The taste varies from recipe to recipe but in general it’s fairly similar to traditional ice cream flavors. It’s really the texture that sets this icy treat apart from run-of-the-mill ice creams at the grocery store.

And it’s also the texture of the shaved ice cream that makes it pretty tricky to make right. There are a lot of variables to consider: the quality of the machine you’re using, how well it’s set up, the ingredients, the amount of milk, and even the temperature of the frozen block. A few degrees to warm or too cold and it just won’t turn out right.

In terms of flavors, you can find ones with more of an Asian inspiration like green tea or black sesame, and coconut milk, but then there are also more standard ones such as vanilla, and chocolate.

The ordering process is not unlike ordering a standard ice cream sunday. After you pick a base shaved ice cream flavor, you’ll pick a sauce to drizzle over it.

A few of the sauces you might have to choose from could be chocolate, condensed milk, fruit syrup, Ordering is sort of like making an ice cream sundae–you choose a snow, then add toppings and a sauce, which could be chocolate, caramel, condensed milk, fruit syrup or whipped cream.

After the sauce, the whole creation is often topped off with freshly diced fruit. Those with a more daring palette can even choose to top their creation with treats like mochi and Pocky sticks, or even cereals like Corn Flakes and Fruity Pebbles.

Where To Find Shaved Ice Cream

If you live in a good size city and do a Google search for ‘Taiwanese shave ice near me’ there’s a fair chance you may be able to find a good spot nearby. If not, try searching for some of the other terms like shaved snow, snow cream, milk fluff, fluff ice, milk snow, or shaved ice cream.

Each spot will have their own flavors and specialties, so it’s always a unique experience.

And if you can’t find any local places to try, you can always make it yourself. Read on to learn how.

How To Make Shaved Ice Cream At Home

The most popular way of making shaved ice cream is to use an electric shave ice machine to shave cylindrical block of frozen over a shaving blade. You can find these pretty inexpensively on Amazon and here’s a link to a few of our favorites.

You can also do it with a less expensive manually cranked shaver as well, like this one.

Besides the shaver, all you’ll need is a cylinder to freeze the ice in and a few simple ingredients. Those exact ingredients however, are notoriously difficult to find. The exact family recipes or recipes used by shops are typically closely guarded secrets.

I did manage to find this very simple recipe though, so hopefully this will be helpful to get you started. Please note that there are no quantities listed, since these will depend on the size of cylinder molds you’re using to freeze the mix. This isn’t a super complicated recipe though, so you can’t really mess this up. Just make sure you don’t overdo it on the vanilla and you should be fine.

Simple Shaved Ice Cream Recipe

You’ll Need:

• A Shave Ice Machine (check out our recommendations here)
• A cylindrical mold (most machines will come with these)

Ingredients:

• Milk
• Sugar to taste (cane sugar is best)
• Vanilla extract to taste
• Toppings: fruits, candies (optional)
• Sauces: chocolate, caramel, fruit syrups (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, gently warm the milk on low heat and add the sugar and vanilla.
2. Gently stir the mixture together until the sugar has dissolved and let cool.
3. Freeze the mixture in a cylinder for at least 24 hours (2-3 days is better)
4. Before shaving the ice cream, take the block out of the freezer and allow it to ‘temper’ at room temperature for approximately 10 minutes. This will allow the block to get to the ideal temperature where it’s not too cold.
5. Pour your favorite sauces over the top and add your toppings and enjoy!

For some creative topping ideas, be sure to check out our ultimate guide to shave ice toppings – there are some really fun ones in there!