[Sca-cooks] Shave Ice history

[ruadh]

found this in my collection . . . thanks to Selene.           Ru

----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Fox-Davis" <selene at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 3:49 PM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Shave Ice history


> Well, as tempting as it is to attribute Shave Ice as part of the fine
> culinary tradition of the Barony of Western Seas, it has really only
> been there for a century or so, a Chinese treat adopted by Japanese and
> then brought by immigrants to Hawaii.  What about its previous history?
> Here are some results of my "web-walking" on the topic of Shave Ice and
> Snow Cones during SCA period and earlier:
>
> From a Japanese-American chat board, thread on "Kakigouri" as shave ice
> is called:
>
> "Although I do not know the exact origins of shaved ice, I do recall
> reading several
> years ago that during the Edo-era, one of the annual gifts (kenjo-hin)
> presented
> during the midst of the Japanese summer to the Shogun in Edo from one
> the local
> feudal lord of Suruga-no-kuni (present day Shizuoka-ken) was snow taken
> from the
> upper slopes of Mt. Fuji. If I recall correctly, the passage said that a
> large quantity
> of snow, carefully wrapped in bamboo leaves, was packed on a horse drawn
> cart
> and rushed to Edo. By the time it finally arrived, there was only enough
> left to fill a
> medium sized dish. In the days prior to electricity, it was a luxury,
> only reserved for
> the Shogun."
>
> Selene here.  Many ice cream web sites tell a virtually identical tale
> about Roman Emperor Nero and Alexander the Great rather than the
> Shogun.  Everyone wants a piece of the action!
>
> http://www.huis.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~nomura/K/koori.html
> A picture of a cloth banner in front of a Kakigouri shop in Hiroshima,
> and a description:
>
> "The history of KAKIGOURI is old. The oldest relative document is
> MAKURANOSOUSHI which was written in THE HEIAN era (about 1000) by
> SEISHOU NAGON. KEZURIHI, or sharpened ice appeared in it. It was liked
> as one of luxury items, summer drinks between nobles.
>
> "It was recorded in THE EDO era ( 1841 ) that it consists of shaved ice
> served with KINAKO (soy-bean flour ) and sugar.
>
> "in YOKOHAMA at 1869, Mr. FUSAZOU MACHIDA sold ice cream and shaved ice,
> it is said an opening of a shaved ice store.
>
> "The fact I have checked on "Encyclopedia Nipponicae 2001 ( SHOUGAKUKAN
> 1985), this is written in Japanese. "
>
> In the West, various claims of sweetened ice treats cite Marco Polo and
> King Charles I of England, but those have been disproven, notably in the
> book by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir, ICES:  THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE
> [Hodder and Stoughton, 1993, ISBN 0-340-58335-5]
>
> According to author Alba Peruzzi,Gelato is even mentioned in the Bible,
> when Isaac offered cold goat's milk to Abraham and says to him "eat and
> drink it." I'm not sure that's what they meant, but I'll leave it to
> Biblical scholars to sort that out.
>
> Epicurious has a good article on Italian granita,
> <http://www.epicurious.com/g_gourmet/g04_italy/sicily/granita.html> that
> attritributes the invention of sweetened ices to over-chilling the
> Arabian "sharbat" water-syrup drink.
>
> Agonizingly just post-SCA period, famous Florentine architect and
> inventor Bernardo Buontalenti is said to have invented the gelato making
> machine in 1660.
>
> That's all I have for now, more if I find it...
>
> Selene