Summer Sno in New Orleans

Only 6 days are left in our Snowball Photo Contest, and we want to tell you about a great exhibit related to the icy treat. Our contest ends July 31, as does the Southern Food & Beverage Museum’s “Summer Sno-Balls in New Orleans” exhibit. With rotating exhibits about Southern foods and drinks, we can’t think of anything better for the museum to focus on during the summertime than snowballs.

From the museum’s website: “Snoballs are the classic symbol of the New Orleans summer. Sweet, brightly colored, and impossibly delicious, this icy treat has been helping Southerners cool off since the snoball machine was invented. The snoball is unique in the flavored ice world for the lightness and quality of the shaved ice as well as the enormous selection of flavors found at almost every snoball stand. With a stand or a shop on nearly every corner of New Orleans, the snoball takes an important place in the culinary scene of the city.”

On view are machines and artifacts from Hansen’s Snow-Blitz and Southern Snow Company. Hansen’s founder Ernest Hansen claims to have invented the first ice shaving machine in 1939, and his wife, Mary, created her own flavored syrups. Today, Hansen’s still makes its own syrups daily from Mary’s secret recipes, and that original machine still shaves the ice. Hansen’s website also has its own online exhibit of old photographs, newspaper articles and memorabilia related to the business.

Next up at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum is “Sur la Table,” textiles related to the kitchen and the dining table over the years. Permanent exhibits include those on the cuisine of Louisiana, pecan candy (or praline as the locals call them), Galatoire’s restaurant, barbecue and eating from the Gulf.

The Southern Food & Beverage Museum is located at the Julia Street entrance to the Riverwalk and open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday from noon-6 p.m. Admission is $10.