Make your Own Summer Snow Cones

By Marilyn Hunter

Summer’s almost here and nothing says summer to Benny and Nicky like homemade snow cones! We try our best to teach our boys about how to eat following the seasons, enjoying what’s fresh and abundant at the moment. They look forward to this time of year because they get to pick the fragrant, juicy lemons from our neighbor Terri’s tree.

And when you live across the street from a prolific lemon tree, you’re obligated to come up with multiple ways to use its fruit – lemonade, lemon muffins; lemon bread. After all, one of life’s most important lessons is to not waste food.

But the boys’ favorite way to use lemons is lemon snow cones. Snow cones are very easy to make at home. You can find ice shavers at housewares stores, but we just put the cubes in a plastic bag and break them down with a meat mallet before finishing in the blender or food processor. Paper cones and spoon straws are summertime stock at your local grocery or party store. We make the syrup ourselves so the anticipation and enjoyment of the cones lasts longer.

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Lemon Snow Cone Syrup
1 cup sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice 1/3 cup water

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, lemon juice and water. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Purée crushed ice in a blender or food processor. Add a little water to the ice to achieve “snowy” consistency. Scoop finely crushed ice into paper cups or bowls using an ice cream scoop. Pour the syrup over the ice and serve.

If you ask the boys how to pick a lemon, they’ll say, “twist, twist, twist, but don’t pull,” so the tree will blossom with lemons again the following season. Lemon trees are a bit like kids, treat them with care and they’ll be puckering sweet.

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