#24 Making a Snow Ball 🍧

Let's beat the heat this summer with this refreshing treat you can make for your family, friends and special someone. Aside from "Halo-Halo" we also have a popular cold drink called "Snow Ball". Don't worry it is not made from snow. We just called it snow ball because of the crushed ice on it. It is much cheaper and easy to prepare dessert drink. During the summer season it is very in demand and more vendors starts to sell it. It's popularity makes it as one of the most favorite requested drink all over the Philippines during summer season.

We Filipinos have a lot of choices when it comes to foodtrip. From unique dishes, snacks and even drinks. Because of the intense heat that summer brings we are looking for some refreshing drink to have. Much better if it has iced on it. Since it is summer we prepared a very simple snow ball. I will try to explain the process of making its ingridients and hoping ypu cpuld understand it.

We decided to make our own version of "Snow Ball" because we are so many who wants it. We can save as much if we prepare it on our own. Sinced I had a free time I insisted to cook it. We bought the ingredients in the nearby market. Here are the list of ingredients we bought; 1 kilo brown sugar, 5 sachets of food coloring and pearls. I also picked some pandan leaves in our backyard. The pandan leaves will add flavor and fragrance to the syrup and pearls.

The ingridients are very simple and not pricey. It also consist of few ingredients that is why anyone could make it. I did not buy an evaporated milk sinced we already have one. I just need to cook the pearls and syrup. I don't actually know the exact measurement for the syrup, what I know is the more sugar the better.

The first thing I did is cooked the syrup. I used a 1.5 liter of water then I mixed the food coloring. We used food coloring to make it more appetizing to drink. For this I used an orange color because that is only the available in market but you can also try different colors like red, yellow, green, blue or violet. I also poured the 1 kilo sugar into it and I continuesly stir until the sugar was disolved completely. I also tied a pandan leaves and I put it in the mixture. It smells so nice and taste much better when there are pandan leaves, I will just remove it after. When it boils and the syrup thickened then it means the syrup is completely done. I set it aside and let it cool for about a minutes.

The syrup is much easier to cooked as you will just wait for it to boil and thickned. If it taste too sweet then it is perfect. A perfect syrup will make a better tasting snow ball. The good thinh about the syrup is it can last for up to 3 days when refrigerated.

The second important ingridient to cook are the pearls. I actually don't prefer to bus this uncooked pearls because it took so long to be cooked. It took me 4 hours to cooked the pearls. The mistake I made is I did not soak the pearls into the water before I start cooking it. So next time I know what to do exactly. You need a lot of patience when cooking these pearls as you need to watch it until its cooked.

I continuesly stir it as it will stick in the bottom if I won't. Same with the syrup I added some pandan leaves to enhace its flavor. I just need to make sure that the pearls are crystalized or doesn't have any white color in the middle. It must be chewy and soft. I also add some water when I notice it thickened.

If you don't want to cook a pearls for a long period of time like this then better to buy a cooked one in the market. That is much easier as you will need to boil it for about 10 minutes only. Because I want to have a perfect snow ball I just finish cooking these pearls.

My favorite part is crushing the ice. It is very fun to do. We are using "kaskasan" to crush the ice. It is a rectangular in shape and usually silver in color but ehat we have is made from plastic. It also has a sharp blade at the bottom. You need to push it forward and backward on the ice. I hope you can imagine what I am trying to say.

The most exciting part is putting all the ingridents in the glass. First, I put the pearls, that is the base. Second, I put the crushed ice. It is up to you if you want more ice or less. I want less ice because I may get soar throat if I eat more ice. Lastly, I poured the syrup and make sure to put a right amount because you won't like it if it becomes too sweet. Then mix it using a spoon. You may now enjoy the special Snow Ball. I also added milk to make it more creamier.

I hope the finish product is well enough. I tried my best to take a shot of it and I think I made it. It is very refreshing and satisfying indeed.

If you will be going to visit in the Philippines during summer then you should try this drink too. I hope I explained it well to all of you. I am sure that most Filipinos do love it. It is also best served with some chicharon, fish crackers or chips.

Summer has just started in the Philippines and the heat is everywhere. We are trying to beat the heat in every possible way. When food is life then we can enjoy more the summer by means of having some refreshing treats. I also wish to make some "Halo-Halo" as it is also my favorite but it has a lot of ingridients that is why it is expensive. Overall I am satisfied with the snow ball I made because when you made it by yourself it will surely taste best.