It’s that time of year where we are all itching for warmer weather, green grass poking up through the ground, and playing in the dirt. And just when you begin to have hope that spring is on its way, it happens. More snow…and not just a dusting, a dumping. So, to keep spirts up and avoid drug out winter blues, our new motto is:
When life gives you a spring snow storm, make real fruit snow cones!
These snow cones are as easy to make as they are delicious and, made with real fruit, are ones you can serve to your kids with no guilt. Regular snow cone syrup contains all sorts of artificial flavors and sugar, and often use high fructose corn syrup. YUCK!
Since this recipe uses real snow, anyone can make them (so long as you are somewhere with snow, of course), no special ice shaving equipment required! The other great thing about using snow is that this activity requires minimal prep, gets the whole family outside, and is easy enough for toddlers to help with. Our three year old loved scooping his own snow into the bowl and helping mix the syrup in.
To make these simple, real fruit snow cones, you will need the following:
- Small bowls or snow cone cups and spoons. Trying to live a life with less waste, we think these half pint mason jars are the perfect size for snow cones plus, they are reusable and have a useful life far beyond just making snow cones.
- Frozen fruit that leaves liquid at the bottom of the bowl when it thaws such as strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries (see more on this below)
- Fresh snow
Type of Fruit to use
Some frozen fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, naturally leave a syrup-like liquid at the bottom of the bowl when thawed. This liquid is the perfect consistency for all natural snow cones, with no additional ingredients needed! However, if you would like to use a different type of fruit, you can also place the thawed fruit in a food processor, blend it until smooth, and then add in a little water as needed to reach the desired consistency.
Thawing Fruit
To begin, thaw the fruit in a bowl. I pulled mine out in the morning and let it sit on the counter all day until we were ready to make the snow cones in the afternoon. However, if you would like to thaw them quicker, you can also place the fruit in a saucepan on the stovetop or in the microwave.
The amount of fruit you pull out depends on how many and how large of snow cones you plan to make. I found one cup of frozen strawberries will produce about 1/4 cup syrup which will make roughly three small bowls of snow cone (we used half pint mason jars like these).
The Syrup
You can either just use the syrup that naturally occurs as is or squeeze more juice out with the back of a spoon. This will result in some small bits of fruit in the liquid but you shouldn’t really notice it once it is poured into the snow. Transfer the remaining large pieces of fruit into a separate container and save for another use such as fruit and yogurt parfaits, as a topping on ice cream, or on pancakes.
If you would rather use all of the fruit for the snow cones, you can also, as mentioned above, place all of it into a food processor, blend it until smooth, and add in a small amount of water as needed to reach the desired consistency. This is great if you plan to make a larger quantity of snow cones as you yield more liquid (about 3/4 cup of puree per 1 cup of frozen fruit), I personally prefer to use just the natural syrup to keep this recipe down to as minimal effort and clean up as possible.
Head Outside
Once your syrup is ready, head outside with your bowl or cone, spoons, and syrup and scoop fresh snow into your container(s). I probably don’t need to say this, but make sure to use snow from a clean location, free of debris or weird colors 🙂
Pour some of the syrup onto the snow in your bowl (if using a cone, I recommend first putting it into a bowl for mixing purposes) and mix well with a spoon. It will clump up initially but with more mixing and breaking up of clumps, should even out into a nice, snow cone like consistency.
Enjoy!
And that’s it! Find a comfortable place to sit outside, or even better yet, gather around a toasty winter bonfire and enjoy your fresh, all natural, real fruit snow cones!
Do you have any natural snow cone syrup recipes you like to use? If so, let us know in the comments below!
