Kakigōri Recipe: How to Make Japanese Shaved Ice

Kakigōri is a Japanese shaved ice dessert made by topping freshly shaved ice with flavored syrups and sometimes condensed milk. The best kakigōri is made from mineral water that has been tempered (rested at room temperature) to remove its frosty sheen. Unlike a snowcone, traditional Japanese kakigōri is light and fluffy, due to hand-cranked machines that produce paper-thin shavings of ice.

During the Heian period in the eleventh century, kakigōri was made from natural ice blocks taken from frozen lakes in the winter. For hundreds of years, ice was too expensive and only Japan's elite enjoyed kakigōri. After the invention of the ice maker in the nineteenth century, kakigōri became more accessible, and the first kakigōri shop opened in Yokohama in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, the frozen Japanese dessert is sold in convenience stores, at summer festivals, and in high-end dessert shops and tea houses.

Kakigōri creations typically incorporate syrups and teas to add sweetness and flavor to the plain shaved ice. Some of the most common toppings are:

1. 1. Green tea: Sprinkle matcha green tea powder on top of the kakigōri.
2. 2. Blue Hawaii: This is a blue-colored syrup with an artificial sweet-sour flavor.
3. 3. Fruit: Popular fruit toppings include strawberry, melon, and kiwi.

You can add ice cream to kakigōri to make a sundae.Two of the most popular flavor combinations of kakigōri sundaes in Japan include ujikintoki and shirokuma. Ujikintoki is a variation of kakigōri from Kyoto that features toppings like anko (red bean paste), matcha ice cream, and mochi. Shirokuma is a type of kakigōri that is popular in Kagoshima and includes condensed milk, mochi, anko, and fruit.