We have had a lot of snow in Manhattan this year and we even had an actual snow day! My two kids Pilar (age 7) and Biúlu (age 3) were delighted. We decided to make snow ice cream! My mother used to eat snow ice cream for desert when she grew up in rural Vermont. They used to cook maple syrup and pour it over snow so it hardens. We simply poured some real maple syrup on some very fresh snow and it was delicious.
We also made a creamier vanilla snow ice cream – see the recipe below. I liked the maple syrup version the best and the kids like the milk one. My youngest does not do well with dairy so we substituted organic oat milk for hers. I did a little research online and it turns out that all snow, no matter where in the world or how pristine the location has some pollution and bacteria in it. I figured, one in a while this is a fun thing to do and it wont hurt them in moderation. You do have to be careful about where you get your snow from – next to a highway is probably not a good idea because of all the air pollution that the snow grabbed on to on the way down! Also, try putting out clean containers before it snows. I read that you should never feed snow to babies because they aren’t ready to handle the bacteria in it.
I think it would be fun to make this outside – a great cooking with kids idea to celebrate “The Kids Cook Monday.”
Check out my blog post about eating snow
If you need it – you can see this video we found about how to get rid of an ice cream headache! It might come in handy!
Enjoy!
Recipe:
¼ cup of milk
2 tablespoons of sugar
drop of real vanilla
about 2 cups of very fresh snow (to taste)
Mix the milk sugar and vanilla in a small bowl or cup and then mix in the fresh snow. Snow ice-cream does not store well in the freezer.
02.18.11
Snow contains high levels of lead, mercury, various hydro-carbons and particulates not to mention stuff real nasty like dioxin, and pesticides from any chemical plants up to 200 miles up wind.
Even snow samples taken from the most ‘pristine’ places in the Arctic and Antarctic contain lead and mercury levels that are not safe for human consumption.
This is just plain stupid advice and shows a lack of common sense, tantamount to making slushies with storm drain water.
02.18.11
Hi Jenette-
Thank you for your comment. We are following up with Penn State’s Meterology Department right now and will post their thoughts here asap.
As the video notes, there is pollution in snow, so this is a fun activity to do with the frequency of ‘snow days’ themselves — which here in NYC happen pretty rarely. And we don’t recommend serving it to babies.
02.22.11
Check out our recent blog post about snow ice cream and Marion Nestle’s response:
http://www.parentearth.com/uncategorized/marion-nestle%E2%80%99s-thoughts-on-snow-day-ice-cream/