How Does a Snow Cone Maker Work?

Introduction

On a sweltering hot day nothing quite beats the cold refreshing taste of a snow cone. A snowcone is thoroughly crushed ice covered in colored sugar laden syrups. These syrups are augmented with flavor extracts to give snowcone lovers hundreds of different flavors to choose from. Snow cones makers came about in 1920 after the 1919 state fair in Dallas, Texas. The inventor Samuel Bert sold the machine nationally until snow cones were famous throughout the world.

The Machine

The snow cone machine comes in many shapes, sizes and prices. Basic snow cone machines can be found in almost any shopping center, but the commercial machines are still special ordered in most cases. The maker consists of four main parts, the hopper, the push handle, the blades and the final container. The hopper is the area where ice is poured into the machine, the push handles pushes the ice through the blades, the blades are where the ice is pushed through and crushed, and the final container is where the final crushed ice is deposited once it has been processed.

The Process

The process starts chunks of ice. The chunks have to be small enough to fit in the hopper. The colder the ice, the better the finished product, but too cold will make it difficult for the blades to process it. Once the ice has been fed into the hopper, the machine must be turned on. Once the machine is turned on the blades will slowly start to turn. As the blades turn they cut deep into the ice causing it to crush into smaller and smaller pieces. Using the push handle the operator slowly pushes the ice through the blades. The more pressure applied, the coarser the finished snow cone ice will be. Light pressure on the handle will create much finer snow cone ice. As the ice is processed it shoots out into the final container, ready to be made into snow cones.

Serving

One the snow cone ice has been processed, specially designed snow cone cups are used to scoop up the ice into individual servings. These cones are specially made with a dry wax to withstand the moisture that develops from a snow cone.

Flavoring

Once the snow cone has been scooped into its container, the liquid flavoring is applied. One pump of liquid flavoring is approximately equal to 1 oz. of flavoring. The flavoring can be mixed to gain other flavors or half-and-half cones.