Japanese summers tend to be extremely hot and humid, luckily the Japanese cuisine has an answer to that : shaved ice or Kakigōri (かき氷).

Kakigōri, is a Japanese shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup and a sweetener, often condensed milk. Popular flavors include strawberry, cherry, lemon, green tea, grape, melon, sweet plum, and colorless syrup. Some shops provide colorful varieties by using two or more different syrups. 

To sweeten kakigōri, condensed milk is often poured on top of it. It is similar to a snow cone, but with some notable differences: it has a much smoother fluffier ice consistency, much like fresh fallen snow, and a spoon is almost always used to eat it. 

The traditional way of making kakigōri uses a hand cranked machine to spin a block of ice over an ice shaving blade. Even though electric ice shavers are most often used, street vendors can still be seen hand-shaving ice blocks in the summer.

In addition to the streets, kakigōri is sold in festivals, convenience stores, coffee shops, and restaurants. During the hot summer months, kakigōri is sold virtually everywhere in Japan. Some shops serve it with ice cream and sweetened red beans or tapioca pearls.

Have you ever tried Kakigōri? If so, what’s your favorite flavour?