Icy treats to beat the summer heat

Summer is definitely here. Despite the occasional rains, cloudy skies and strong winds, the heat  tells us that we are in for a hot hot summer.

While there are some people who go to the beach or the pools to cool off, this does not mean that you have to go away for the summer, too, to get away from the heat.

You can actually beat the summer heat with a few icy treats you can prepare at home. Come to think of it, you can even start a small business with these icy treats and earn a little extra this summer!

Ice Candy

Popular among the budget conscious is the good old ice candy. All you need to prepare this type of summer cooler is ice candy wrapper, flavoring (you can use fruit juices or real fruits or a chocolate mixture, depending on what flavor you want), milk and sugar.

Since your refrigerator is on 24/7 anyway, you might was well get the most of it with your ice candy business. Ice candy usually sells for P2 to P5 depending on the flavor and size.

Snow Cones

If you think ice candy is easy to make, wait till you hear about snow cones! These cool and easy to prepare treat is made of crushed or shaved ice and syrup for color and flavor and are usually placed on plastic or paper cups.

Snow cones are popular summer treats in other countries, as well. In Peru they are known as “cremolada” or “raspadilla.” In Hawaii, these are called Hawaiian shave ice.

Ice Scramble

Remember the pink ice treat sold outside our schools when we were younger? The treat that we were warned not to eat because it may be dirty? 

Ice scramble is a yummy ice treat made of crushed or shave ice with flavoring, sugar, and sometimes, chocolate syrup. Though sold along sidewalks before, this treat is slowly becoming popular in the market and those selling it are making sure that the “dirty” tag is eliminated.In fact, more and more food carts are selling ice scramble in malls nowadays. But since it is very easy to prepare, you can make a business out of ice scramble right in your very home.

Halo-Halo

For Pinoys, summer time is halo-halo time. It is a sweet, creamy and filling ice treat that can surely cool off the summer heat.

Halo-halo is usually made of crushed ice, red beans, coconut meat, jackfruit, kaong, nata de coco, sago, ube, leche flan, saba, pinipig and milk. Special orders of halo-halo even have ice cream on top!

But for your homemade halo-halo, you can use simple ingredients and still come up with the same sweet, creamy and filling treat. You can use caramelized bananas (the kind used for bananacue) and sweet potatoes, gulaman, sago, coconut meat, jackfruit, substitute pinipig with corn flakes, milk, crushed ice and sugar and you have your budget halo-halo, which you can sell for P15 to P20.

Make the most of your summer by beating the heat and earning a little on the side with these cool ice treats.