Everyone around the Philadelphia area raves about “wooder ice”. I appreciate Rita’s, and when I am up here I find myself frequenting the locations during the warmer months too. However, being from Baltimore County, MD, I know of the superior ice-based summer treat.
Snowballs.
No, not the kind that you pack in your hand with real snow. Maryland snowballs are only found in the summer. Chipped ice with a sugary syrup pumped into the Styrofoam cup is the best way to spend a summer evening. It’s not as watery or as smooth as Rita’s, but it’s sweet, and the chunkier ice makes it even better to retain the flavor of the syrup of your choosing. If you really want to make the most out of your experience, add some marshmallow topping, in the middle and on top. Oh, also egg custard is the best flavor.
Image Credit: @BreatheDeeplyandSmile
And before you can think it, snowballs ARE NOT snow cones. I have had a snow cone before and let me tell you it was disappointing. Just like a snow cone and water ice is not the same, neither is a snow cone and a snowball. The ice used for a snowball is a different texture and it has much more syrup, making it much more flavorful, and changes the consistency of it as well. Snow Cones are more ice than flavor, where Snowballs are more flavor than ice. Also, there are hundreds of different snowball flavors, ranging from classic Chocolate to Spongebob (I don’t even really know what that’s supposed to taste like) And would you ever but marshmallow on a snow cone? I think not.
The Maryland Snowball also predates all these other variations of ice treats. It got its beginnings in the 1800s when kids would chase down ice trucks passing through Baltimore and ask for some shavings. Their parents would flavor them often using simple things like eggs, sugar, and vanilla, which is how the classic syrup Egg custard was created.
The snowball became even more popular during the Great Depression, when milk and sugar and other good-tasting things were rationed. But ice was still fairly easy to get your hands on, and flavoring it only took a few things. Snowball became known as “the poor man’s sundae”, since many used them as a substitute for ice cream.
New Orleans tries to claim the creation of a Snowball, but in reality they’ve been around Baltimore far longer. They popped up in New Orleans around the 1930s, but Marylanders have been enjoying them for well over a hundred years.
You can’t get a snowball anywhere in the state, though. Snowballs are only really popular in the counties surrounding Baltimore City (Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County to name a few). There are stray snowball stands and ice cream shops that serve them in the outer regions of the states, but in these counties there’s almost a snowball stand on every corner. There are two within walking distance from my grandparent’s house, and it was a childhood tradition to get snowballs after grilling some hamburgers and hot dogs on a summer night.
Like Rita’s, snowball stands are only open during the warmer months. Most snowball stands literally look like sheds on the side of the road, but it’s not at all weird to the locals. They are also served at a lot of recreational sport facilities concession stands. I’ve watched many a little league game with a snowball in hand.
I enjoyed my childhood in Maryland, but I love Philly and don’t plan on moving back to Baltimore. There are lots of things about that area that aren’t for me, but I will defend snowballs to the day I die.
If you go to Baltimore, get a snowball. They’re about $2 and it’s a strange local custom that you really ought to partake in.
