Taiwanese shaved ice

What it is

Tshuah-ping (剉冰), also called baobing (刨冰), is a bowl of shaved ice piled high and covered with toppings. The usual ones are adzuki beans, mung beans, tapioca balls and chewy tangyuan (湯圓, glutinous rice balls), sweetened with sugar syrup or condensed milk. Eight-treasure ice (八寶冰) is a mixed bowl of several house-made toppings. Fruit toppings change with the season.

Where it came from

Shaved ice came to Taiwan under Japanese rule. Ice was first crushed with a mallet or shaved with a blade. Most shops now use machines, which give finer, thinner flakes.

The food writer Hally Chen sees the local style as a meeting of two things. One was the ice-making and ice-shaving machines that spread from the Japanese era. The other was the habit of boiling sweet beans that Chinese settlers brought with them. Taiwan's fruit did the rest.

From the 1940s to the late 1980s the ice parlour (冰果室) was an everyday place to eat out. Many also sold hot dishes to keep trade going through the winter. Convenience stores and tea-drink chains later forced many to close. A few stalls go back to the colonial period. Chiang Shui Hao (江水號) in Tainan began on open ground behind the West Market, which the Japanese authorities had set aside for street vendors.

How it is made

Ice is shaved by machine into a loose heap of flakes. The toppings are cooked separately, often by hand in the shop each day. Beans are simmered soft and sweet, taro is cooked until it falls apart, and glutinous rice is ground, drained, shaped into balls, boiled and soaked in syrup. The bowl is finished with sugar syrup, brown-sugar syrup or condensed milk. Snowflake ice (雪花冰) is a variant shaved from a frozen block of milk and fruit.

How to eat it

Shaved ice is a hot-weather dish, and many shops also sell hot sweet soups, especially in winter. At most counters you pick a set number of toppings, often five, or ask for mixed ice (綜合冰) and let the staff choose. Queue, order and pay at the counter, then carry the bowl to a seat.