A snow cone (or snow kone, sno kone, sno-kone, sno cone, or sno-cone) is a ground-up ice dessert commonly served in paper cones or foam cups.[1] This is not to be confused with shaved ice which shaves a thin layer of ice off an ice block instead of grinding or crushing ice. The dessert consists of ice grounds that are topped with flavored sugar syrup.
Depending on the region of North America, the terms "snowball", “ice cone” and "snow cone" may refer to different things. Where the distinction is made, the former refers to a dessert made of finely ground ice ("like soft fresh snow"), while the latter contains ground-up ice that is coarser and more granular ("crunchy").
History
Industrial Revolution
In the 1850s, the American Industrial Revolution made ice commercially available in the United States. Ice houses in New York would commonly sell ice to states like Florida. To transport the ice to Florida, the ice houses would send a wagon with a huge block of ice south. The route to Florida would pass right through Baltimore where children would run up to the wagon and ask for a small scraping of ice. Before long, mothers started to make flavoring in anticipation of their children receiving some ice. The first flavor the women made is still a Baltimore favorite: egg custard.