What it is
A bowl of shaved ice, usually milk ice or snow ice, piled with fresh strawberries and finished with condensed milk, syrup or strawberry sauce. Unlike mango ice it is a cold-weather treat, because Taiwan's strawberries ripen between late autumn and spring. Ice shops sell it only for those months.
Where it came from
The dish depends on Taiwan's own strawberry crop. Most of it comes from Dahu (大湖), a township in Miaoli known as the island's strawberry kingdom, which grows about 90 per cent of Taiwan's strawberries, UDN reports. The main variety there is now Xiangshui (香水, 'perfume'), which replaced the older Toyonoka (豐香) after disease hit it. Picking normally opens around early December, and the season runs into spring.
How it is made
Shops shave a block of milk ice or plain ice, then cover it with fresh strawberries. Toppings vary. Nan Chuan in Tainan pours on syrup and condensed milk and adds a house-made strawberry milk foam. Bing Hsiang (冰鄉), also in Tainan, piles nearly 20 large Dahu strawberries on milk ice with a pink strawberry sauce and a cream cheese sauce.
How to eat it
Look for it from about November to April; some shops make only a set number of bowls a day. An old-style pudding (布丁) on top is a common extra, and pearls or small glutinous rice balls (湯圓) can be added. Order 草莓牛奶冰 (cǎoméi niúnǎi bīng) for the milk-ice version.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Nan Chuan Ice Parlour (南泉冰菓室), beside the Anping canal, ships its strawberries from Dahu and switches to mango in summer. In Central West District, Bing Hsiang (冰鄉) sells a limited number of strawberry milk ices each winter.
- Central
- In Dahu itself, some pick-your-own farms also sell strawberry ice and strawberry smoothies during the November to April season.
