Saturday, June 15, 2013

Kakigori 氷

Kakigori is a Japanese treat that immigrants brought to Hawaii, where it is known as 'shave ice,' dropping the past tense in the way of 'hash' browns, 'ice' tea or 'ice' cream.

 A summer treat big at the many festivals, kakigori differs from snow cones for its absolutely fine shavings that you gently lift off with a spoon, like eating snow.

Sakuraya, the lone Gardena store which served kakigori - otherwise had in Japanese town - and its famed mochi and manju cakes which even Japanese tourists now purchase to take back to Japan!  The secret with kakigori is using a solid block of ice, not cubes, in order to "shave" off with a blade, not chipped.

In Japan, these are, like most things, taken to their ultimate aesthetic and culinary level, where you can order it with UJI (the highest grade of green tea from a village near Kyoto) and azuki beans, sweetened; giving it a bitter/sweet blend.
Hula Girls of Huntington Beach brought shave ice to BHCA yesterday, reproducing much of the flavor and all of the atmosphere with their homemade syrups,
 
 
At the end, Jason pulled out the azuki beans, tropical fruit, and condensed milk ('snow cap'), as a special favor. I had three. A Poipu native, Jason knew of the prickly lady ("auntie") in charge of Hanalei's Wishing Well and helped mainstream shave ice on the mainland. School's almost out for summer, as American students plunge into the famous 'summer slide,' losing weeks of learning to be redone in September.

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