Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice Recipe (an elegantly delicious grown-up snow cone)

by Dorothy Reinhold on August 11, 2010


Print This Post Print This Post Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice on Shockingly Delicious

This is the happiest, most delicious serendipity!

I was making the kids some summertime snow cones the other day, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pour that fakey, chemically, neon syrup on them. Kids love that stuff, but it’s just awful, really, in so many ways.

So how hard could it be to make some actually tasty syrup with ingredients you can recognize?

Not hard at all, and with some sugar, water, and a couple of items plucked from the backyard, we had a surprisingly sophisticated, elegant Rosemary-Lemon Simple Syrup that totally ROCKED the snow cone! This was one wowser of an impromptu frozen treat!

Believe it or not, my kids preferred this to the wacky grape/cherry/blue raspberry type snow cone syrups we had in the pantry. (Which now reside in the trash.)

This is an adult taste, but it appeals to contemporary kid palates, too. It would be a lovely finish to a patio dinner, or just a quick refresher during a hot afternoon.

You can also use any leftover syrup to flavor a cocktail. Just sayin’

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

To zest a lemon, peel just the yellow zest in one long strip

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

It looks a little bit sad after you are done zesting

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Add water to the sugar in the pan and stir

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

 

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

Zest of 1 lemon (see direction below)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
4 finger-size branches fresh rosemary (each 4-5 inches long)


Using a vegetable peeler, peel zest from lemon in one long strip. Set zest aside and use lemon for another purpose if you wish.

In a small saucepan, stir together sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Turn heat off and submerge rosemary branches and lemon zest in sugar syrup. Allow to steep, uncovered, until cool, about 30-45 minutes.

Remove and discard rosemary branches and lemon zest. Pour syrup into a lidded container and store in the refrigerator (it has no preservatives so will grow things if you leave it in the pantry).

Makes about 7/8 cup syrup.

To make shaved ice dessert: Fill a small bowl with crushed or shaved ice, and spoon a couple of tablespoons of Rosemary-Lemon Simple Syrup over.

Basil Simple Syrup Shaved Ice

Use Basil Simple Syrup to make another variation on a shaved ice frozen treat.

Rosemary-Lemon Shaved Ice

This machine uses ice cubes to make shaved ice easily

Tagged as: flavored syrup, grownup snow cone, lemon, rosemary, shaved ice, simple syrup, sugar

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Rocco May 6, 2019 at 4:38 am

Does it actually work?

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold May 6, 2019 at 6:38 am

Rocco,
Yep, not only does it work, it’s simple and delicious!

Reply

l May 11, 2011 at 2:21 pm

MMm . . .this looks good. Cannot wait to try.

Here’s another you might like:
Chop up a stick of rhubarb, put in bowl. Add juice & zest of 1 lemon, and handful of rosemary blossoms.
Cover with sugar, let sit overnight or until the juices come out. Remove pieces of rhubarb for another use, and strain out any solids (zest, wilted flowers).
Adjust sweetness by adding more lemon juice or more sugar, if needed.
Pour over shaved ice. For decoration, a fresh rosemary blossom is pretty.

Reply

Ellen Kawana September 2, 2010 at 5:24 pm

I’m definitely going to try this one. Did you get your shaved ice machine online and does it make the super fine like snow?

Reply

Dorothy September 2, 2010 at 5:31 pm

Ellen, yes I think I bought this gadget from Amazon, and it makes it superfine!

Reply

Cyndy August 13, 2010 at 8:21 pm

Wonderful idea Dorothy. This would go great with your Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies. Got those awhile back on TOH from you.

Thanks!

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: