Shave Ice Community Web Board

To get the finest texture : 1.) Avoid compressed ice at all cost. Use solid blocks of ice with filtered water 2.) Temper your ice before shaving 3.) Do not press on the ice when you shave 4.) Always keep your blade sharp and shave at a slower setting rather than high To cheat, you can always add a b...

Swan machines are the easiest to use of the bunch. It's not the cheapest but it is safe and relatively traditional. You want to remember that Hawaiian shave ice is all about packing style, texture, and the experience. It's not about getting a shaver and cranking out ice. Any shaver can do that. A go...

We recently did a fair in Carson City that was around 90 degrees, flower cups worked quite well! Never tried when it's over 100 degrees.

Good luck on selling the machines. There is always a demand for Swans. Not too sure about Global Bear. Why you would buy that when there is a better Swan??

Snowie blocks, Swan, and Southern Snow are different types of machines. Southern Snow is more of a sno ball sno cone shaver. Snowie's blocks are more of a shaved ice/sno cone type of machine. Swan's are more Hawaiian shave ice. If you want to sell Hawaiian styled, believe me, a slower shave is bette...

Most homemade syrups are made from puree or juice. You can boil the fruits and puree it or you can make your own extract which is a bit more work. Some stores also purchase puree's from a food distributor. You would also need to use raw sugar which requires you to boil. In order to advertise as 100%...

Yes, the popular cream would be evaporated milk. You will find condensed milk too thick and expensive.

We had some requests for a lemonade blend from some of our clients. Some of the more popular ones are strawberry, cherry, and pineapple.

For cream, some people use evaporated milk or condensed milk (diluted) and mix it together.

A good chocolate would be using a concentrate that is chocolate and mixing it with some hersheys or similar chocolate syrup.

You are correct! We wish shave ice was not so easy to melt. We actually had a paper carry out tray back then, it was not popular. It seems the general consensus was that shave ice is a eat-on-the-spot item. It didn't sell well and we felt it wasn't eco friendly to sell a item that would only be used...