Kakigori: So much Better than Snowcones

    Kakigori is not shaved ice. I've had trouble with this because when I first moved to Japan, I'd never tried Japanese style kakigori, so I always said that it would be applicable to call one shaved ice or a snow cone, terms that were synonymous where I come from, but now I know better. The small chunks of crushed ice we pour chemical-rich, artificially flavored, technicolor syrups on in Texas are about as far from kakigori as a discount American hot dog is from home-made German bratwurst. They might look the same if you're not wearing your glasses, and they may have some similar ingredients, but one is usually a lot higher in quality.

This kakigori with cream, sweetened condensed mild, and strawberry syrup with real chunks of strawberry was enjoyed at Kurazushi, a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant chain, a few years ago. Even when they are cheap, Japanese-made kaigori tend to be so much higher in quality.


    The first kakigori I ever enjoyed was a strawberry flavored concoction I shared with my daughter at a little shop on Tashirojima, the cat island off the coast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture. It was the perfect condition under which to encounter this new treat, thinking I was just placating my child's wants and instead introducing myself to something so much better.

    Snow cones in my hometown were usually just small chunks of ice made by a machine that it came out in kind of a clump with a sugary syrup added on top. No fruit was ever anywhere near it and neither was anything like a sweetened condensed milk and these basic forms were an acceptable and wonderful treat for poorly hydrated children in the Texas heat.

    The Japanese alternative is so so much better, especially when you can get it from a nicer restaurant. For instance this lovely little kakigori creation that my daughter got to enjoy at K-port in Kesennuma was thoroughly enjoyable.

    Look at those chunks of real fruit in the mixture, and the way they shaved ice is less chunky than anything I remember receiving as a kid. Other variations I've seen at other proper shops include the use of massive, hand-cranked ice machines, barely shaving these thin, beautiful layers of of ice into bowls to be devoured by hot, hungry patrons but not before the food artist adds a layer of sweetened condensed milk along with sauce in whatever desirable flavor.

    A few years ago, I heard about how delicious Hawaiian snow cones were by comparison to the ones in the continental US and that also owes a debt to kakigori as almost everything special about Hawaiian style shaved ice other than the tropical, native flavors comes straight from Japanese immigrants making kakirgori decades ago.

    So, before summer is completely gone, go enjoy an authentic Japanese kakigori. It is most definitely not a snowcone.