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AppleSister Jul 17, 2009 12:00 PM

Looking for a good ice shaver

I tried out the Hamilton Beach Icy Treats ice shaver, but the texture of the ice is more like a granita/slurpee than the Hawaiian shaved ice/Korean patbingsu I'm going for. Is it impossible to get ice that flaky from something that's not industrial-sized? Any recommendations?
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›8 Replies . Latest Aug 11, 2009 by AppleSister
  1. c
     cyberroo Jul 24, 2009 04:10 PM

    I would think that you'd have better luck with something that didn't use ice cubes - I'm not sure how you'd get good shaved ice from irregular cubes.

    I got this one http://hawaiianshavedice.com/elshicem... for a friend, and it comes with molds that you have to freeze the ice in - good sized cylinders, maybe 4 inches in diameter. The blade would then rotate around that disk of ice. I was pretty happy with the shaved ice from it - nice and fluffy, not lumpy like a snow cone.

    If you're really jonesing for a fix, it might be worth a try.
    ›4 Replies
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    1. re: cyberroo
      AppleSister Jul 28, 2009 09:01 AM

      That is an excellent point. The machine we had growing up in Korea worked with frozen blocks that were shaved. Thank you for the link!
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      1. re: AppleSister
        o
         onocoffee Jul 29, 2009 06:53 AM

        One thing to remember if you go that block route is to allow the block to "sweat" before using it. A wet block will give you better results and wear on your blade less.
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        1. re: onocoffee
          AppleSister Aug 4, 2009 12:04 PM

          That is very good to know!

          I just ordered the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver from Amazon, based on cyberoo's comment about shaving blocks versus crushing cubes. Will let you know how it goes.
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          1. re: AppleSister
            AppleSister Aug 11, 2009 06:50 AM

            Just wanted to report that the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver is MUCH closer to Hawaiian shaved ice texture than the Hamilton Beach Icy Treats machine. It's still not able to do what a commercial machine would do, but the shaved ice is quite soft and flaky. Can't wait to make patbingsoo!
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    2. o
       onocoffee Jul 19, 2009 07:15 AM

      In a word: No. None of the consumer models of ice shavers are capable of delivering the fine, fluffy quality of ice that a professional block ice shaver will deliver.
      ›1 Reply
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      1. re: onocoffee
        AppleSister Jul 24, 2009 07:43 AM

        That's what I was afraid of. But some have got to be better than others!
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      2. f
         ferret Jul 17, 2009 12:13 PM

        http://www.amazon.com/Sababa-Snoopy-S...
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