One part shaved ice, one part flavored syrup. One cup, one spoon, and one boatload of napkins. One perfect summer treat. I’m talking of course, about snowballs.
It recently came to my attention that calling this delicious summer treat a snowball is something that’s apparently unique to my state, Maryland. My first reaction to this information was shock and disbelief. There was no way that this terminology was only used in Maryland. So, I did what any person with friends from out-of-state would do; I immediately popped into one of my Skype groups and asked, “Quick. What do you call crushed up ice with flavored syrup on/in it?”
My friend in Pennsylvania's response was immediate, “Snow cone.” My friend in New York's response took a while, but her reply was also "snow cone."
This dialectal discrepancy got me thinking though. Is “snowball” really a Maryland-only thing? Surely other places must use this term. After a bit of googling, I found an article by Greg Morago detailing his adventures with "sno-balls" (not snowballs)… in New Orleans, Louisiana. Apparently sno-balls in Mississippi, Louisiana, and much of the Gulf Coast are identical to their Maryland counterparts. Finely shaved ice that absorbs the syrup and marshmallow fluff, that’s a sno-ball (and a snowball). But how did the regional term travel from the gulf coast to Maryland?
Look how far away Maryland is!
Unfortunately, I don’t have any friend in the in-between states to ask directly what they call this wonderful summer dessert. So, I did what any curious person would do. I conducted a survey on the Internet to gather data. I hoped that I'd get some responses from Virginia or maybe Georgia, as they were both states near "known zones" as I started calling them. The turnout was… less than ideal for a real statistical analysis, but it still showed some interesting trends.
The map of the results
The majority of people who took my survey were from Maryland, and all four of them said the same thing: snowball. Two results were from California and they both said snow cone. One response was from Pennsylvania and they also said snow cone.
So, what does all of this data mean? It can be tentatively concluded that the word “snowball” in reference to this summertime dessert is unique to Maryland. How the word came to reside in my lovely state still remains a mystery. How did that word travel up the coast and only change a little when one half of the word is changed for other places? Is there even that much of a difference between the three desserts in the first place?
Well, the last question has an answer, thankfully. So, this whole snowball/sno-ball/snow cone debacle will leave you with some answers at least. As stated before, a snowball (or sno-ball) consists of shaved ice that’s almost powdery, like fresh snow, that absorbs the syrup. Snowballs are often served with marshmallow fluff for an extra layer of sweetness. A snow cone is made of crushed ice that’s more gritty and crunchy than a snowball, and the syrup tends to sink to the bottom of the cup instead of melding into the ice. Two very different things.
The mystery of how the word "snowball" came to reside evidently only in Maryland may remain unsolved, but it's no mystery that this delicious treat is the perfect thing to beat the summer heat no matter where you live, how it's made, or what you call it.
