Slushy

Tuesday, 30 August 2011 16:02 Written by L.Calvo

A Slushy cart refreshing the heat in Old Havana. Photo courtesy of ojodigital.com

"¡Caballero qué calor!" (Sir, it´s hot!) This is the most often heard phrase in the city this month, as August´s high temperatures are the hottest of the year; they´re stifling.

Unlike other regions where heat waves occur or summer temperatures are even higher, here, the sensation of humidity—around 90 percent—that we always have, causes an accentuated loss of fluids and one must be constantly hydrated.

Surely you´re already thinking about water, a good, cold beer, a soda or refreshment, but no, not everyone has access to some refreshing liquid, at least not whilst traveling or walking. Unfortunately, most refreshing drinks are sold in CUC, the convertible currency, to which most have limited access.

So, what to drink?

If you look closely, in many places you´ll see a man with a colorful cart, a little ceiling full of colored bottles, with many cups or paper containers: The slushy man!

"Granizado" (a Slushy) is a refreshing drink or snack consisting of crushed ice with syrup, also known as the "Raspado" in Mexico, Nicaragua and some South American countries. Some places refer to it as "Snow Ball" or "Raspados," and in Venezuela, "Esnovol" or "Cepillados." In Puerto Rico and New York, it´s called, "Piragua." In Santo Domingo, "Frío Frío" or "Guallao," but here in Havana, it´s a "Granizado."

Generally, they´re sold by street vendors, who carry around a block of ice in their cart. Also, there are commercial establishments, who sell them very cheap and in the national money (CUP), starting at 1 Peso, depending on size and amount. Children are always the happiest, lining up if there´s a cart outside of their school.

Its preparation is quite simple. They use a manual machine to grind up the ice, although street vendors usually use an iron brush, which is done by scraping the ice with a large brush with metal bristles; this produces a finer and more compact shaved ice. Then the chosen flavor of syrup —the most popular being strawberry, orange, mint, anise and lemon, though there are many different flavors— is added and they fill the cup (generally plastic or paper) to the limit.

And that is how a Cuban refreshes, now you know.