I had been talking about doing a shoot with my dear friend Anne who is a wonderful cook and baker. Since she had recently been to Kauai for her honeymoon and also had a shave ice maker, she suggested the shaved ice idea. I actually didn’t even know what it was even though I have been to Hawaii a few times. I don’t know how I somehow missed this. It’s essentially shaved ice with syrup either over ice cream or with sweetened condensed milk on top.
I came across this cool and really refreshing recipe for Blackberry Basil Shaved Ice and we topped it with the sweetened condensed milk. Since blackberries are in season in WA we actually went and picked some locally, and I picked up a few others for the garnishes at the market. Anne made the syrup and shaved ice and it was delicious! I did make the basil sugar but thought that the picture for this was prettier without, though it definitely added a little something extra to the shave ice. I would highly recommend trying this, it’s a really great recipe from Kayla. We had the benefit of a shave ice machine though, so that part was really easy, and cut out a step for us.
- SHAVED ICE
- 4 cups water
- 2 TB sugar
- BLACKBERRY + BASIL SYRUP
- 6 oz blackberries
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 TB lime juice
- 1 tsp lime zest
- 5-6 basil leaves / roughly torn
- BASIL SUGAR
- 1 TB fresh basil / very finely chopped
- 1 TB sugar
- In a medium sized sauce pan, heat water and sugar over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool. Once the sugar water solution has cooled, transfer to a loaf pan or 8 x 8 pan. Freeze for 2 hours.
- After two hours, remove pan from freezer and scrape with a fork to form ice crystals. Return to freezer and continue to freeze and scrape every 2 hours until frozen through.
- In a small sauce pan, combine blackberries, sugar, lime juice, and lime zest. Heat berry sauce over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook until sauce comes to a simmer, let simmer for one minute. Remove from heat, stir in torn basil leaves, and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Pour blackberry sauce through a fine mesh strainer and transfer into a small bowl or jar. Refrigerate until chilled.
- When ready to serve, make basil sugar by combining 1 TB finely chopped basil with 1 TB sugar. Remove shaved ice from freezer and scrape again using a fork. Scoop ice into individual bowls and pour blackberry sauce over shaved ice using a spoon or jar with a pour spout (add water to syrup, one tsp at a time, to reach desired pouring consistency, if needed). Top with basil sugar and garnish with basil leaves and blackberries.