{{Short description|Shaved-ice dessert}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}} {{About|the shaved-ice dessert|the Hostess cream-filled chocolate cake|Sno Balls}} {{Infobox food | name = Sno-ball | image = Sno ball.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = A sno-ball stand in Baltimore | region = Baltimore, Maryland and New Orleans, Louisiana | type = Frozen dessert | main_ingredient = Water, cane syrup, flavoring }}
A '''sno-ball''' is a confection made with finely shaved ice and flavored sugar syrup. Commonly confused with the snow cone, the ice of a sno-ball is fine and fluffy; while a snow cone's ice is coarse, crunchy, and granular. Moreover, whereas in a snow cone the flavored syrup sinks to the bottom of the cup, in a sno-ball the ice absorbs the syrup.
Sno-balls are a seasonal treat as they are generally sold only from roughly March to October. They are vended from "sno-ball stands" throughout Maryland and the Deep South.
== History == The sno-ball's history is contentious, with both New Orleans and Baltimore laying claim to the dessert.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Leach |first1=Christopher |date=2020-08-07 |title=A Snowball Fight: Baltimore vs. New Orleans |url=https://wgno.com/news/louisiana/a-snowball-fight-baltimore-vs-new-orleans/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=WGNO |language=en-US}}</ref>
Baltimore's sno-cone roots can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. In the mid-1800s, ice houses shipped wagons with huge blocks of ice from New York to the South and, when they passed through Baltimore, children would beg for some ice shavings on humid summer days. Soon, moms in town began to make flavorings to sweeten the ice. The most common was a simple golden-hued egg custard—made with eggs, vanilla, and sugar—and that's still the most popular flavor to this day, now mimicked with a vanilla-laced syrup. Melted marshmallow, which is sticky but pourable, became a common topping, adding a dollop of sweetness and a creamy texture to the snowball.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|last=Roahen|first=Sara|title=Interview with Ashley and Gerard Hansen|url=http://www.southernfoodways.org/assets/Sno-Ball_Hansen%E2%80%99s-Sno-Bliz.pdf|work=Southern Foodways Alliance|accessdate=7 November 2013}}</ref>
The New Orleans sno-cone history begins in the 1930s. In a pre-electric era, ice was manually scraped from a block of ice, producing a coarser, crunchier version of the sno-ball. In 1934, Ernest Hansen invented the first motor-driven ice-shaving machine. For two years, Hansen kept the machine within his family, making sno-balls for only his children and relatives. In 1936, Ernest and his wife Mary took their machine to the streets of New Orleans and opened Hansen's Sno-Bliz. The business ran discontinuously for the following two years because Mary needed to care for her children. In 1939, they opened the shop and remained in business for the next 67 years.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
By this time, grocer George Ortolano had invented his own ice-shaving machine, which he later called the Sno-Wizard. Ortolano redeveloped his wooden machine into one made of galvanized metal after he began receiving requests from people who wanted to use his machine to start their own businesses. Soon thereafter, he drew up blueprints for his machine and set his product into automated production. Ortolano's Sno-Wizards are now the primary sno-ball machines used in Louisiana and throughout the Gulf Coast.<ref name=":2" />
The Great Depression only heightened the snowball's popularity because the treat was cheap to make and cheap to buy (today, most still cost under $3). In 1932, the stands were so numerous that people complained there were too many in their neighborhoods. Baltimore's mayor at the time, Harold W. Jackson, defended the purveyors, saying, "Some of us may be down to eating snowballs soon, and I don't want to put any limitations on the trade."<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last=Ramos|first=Dante|title=That's Snow Business|url=http://snowizard.com/fanfare/pdf/thatssnowbusiness.pdf|accessdate=7 November 2013|newspaper=The Times-Picayune|date=28 June 1997}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite news |last=Morago |first=Greg |date=14 August 2020 |title=A Snowball Fight: Baltimore vs. New Orleans |newspaper=WGNO |url=https://wgno.com/news/louisiana/a-snowball-fight-baltimore-vs-new-orleans/ |accessdate=12 November 2020}}</ref>
== Flavors == The following list contains many of the sno-ball flavors available at sno-ball stands around New Orleans. {{Div col|colwidth=15em}} * Almond * Banana * Bahama Mama * Blackberry * Blue Bubble Gum * Blueberry * Blue Raspberry * Buttered popcorn<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Cake batter<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Cherry * Chocolate<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Coconut * Coffee * Cotton Candy * Cream soda * Dreamsicle * Daiquiri * French vanilla * Grape * Green apple * Hawaiian Punch * Ice cream * Joker * Key lime pie<ref name=autogenerated2/> * King cake<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Kiwi * Lemon<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Lemon-ice * Lemon-lime * Lime * Margarita * Nectar * Orange * Orchid vanilla * Peach * Peanut butter<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Piña colada * Pineapple * Pink lemonade * Raspberry * Rocket 88 * Root beer * Silver fox * Spearmint * Strawberry<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Tamarind<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Tangerine * Tiger's blood * Tutti frutti * Vanilla malt<ref name=autogenerated2/> * Watermelon * Wedding cake {{div col end}}
== Variations == * Cheesecake Stuffed Snowball:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://snolasnowballs.com/about-us/|title=About Us|website=Snola Snowball Lounge, New Orleans Snowball, Original Cheesecake Stuffed Snowball|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-20}}</ref> created by Sno-La Snowballs, the snowball is stuffed with cheesecake in the center, surrounded by the snowball flavor of choice. *Stuffed sno-ball: a sno-ball stuffed with vanilla or chocolate soft-serve ice cream. The first stuffed snocones were sold in 2005 in central Louisiana. CandyLand snocones on 28 east in Pineville, La were the first to substitute Blue Bell Homemade ice cream as an extra when one day the owners ran out of sweetened condensed cream. The idea caught on and within a year it was statewide.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web|last=Casbon|first=Hartley|title=GoNOLA Top Five: Best New Orleans Snowball ref. The Town Talk front page June 2005.Flavors|url=http://www.gonola.com/2012/03/14/gonola-top-five-best-new-orleans-snowball-flavors.html|work=goNOLA.com|accessdate=12 November 2013}}</ref> * Cream-flavored sno-ball: a sno-ball made with flavored syrup mixed with evaporated milk<ref name=autogenerated3 /> * Sugar-free sno-ball: a sno-ball made with sugar-free syrup * Toppings: soft-serve ice cream, condensed milk, marshmallow fluff, Oreos<ref name=autogenerated2 /><ref name=autogenerated3 />
== References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web | url=http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2006/06/09/6537096-the-comfort-of-a-sno-ball | title=The comfort of a sno-ball | publisher=NBC News | date=June 9, 2006 | accessdate=20 November 2013 | author=Williams, Brian}} * {{cite web | url=http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130703/LIFE05/307030008/ | title=Real deal: Sno-balls, a taste of New Orleans in Wilmington | publisher=Delawareonline | date=July 3, 2013 | accessdate=20 November 2013}} * {{cite web | url=http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2009/07/sweet_summer_new_orleans_sno_b.php | title=Sweet summer: New Orleans sno balls | publisher=Phoenix New Times | date=July 27, 2009 | accessdate=20 November 2013 | author=Burwell, Sloane}}
==External links== {{external media | float = right | width = | video1= [http://www.wwltv.com/video/how-its-done/How-Its-Done-Hansens-Atomic-sno-ball-211421941.html "How It's Done: Hansen's Atomic Sno-Ball"]. WWLTV News. | video2= }} {{Ice-based snacks}}
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Category:Cuisine of New Orleans Category:Ice-based desserts Category:American desserts