Flavor Friday – Episode #1

Welcome to Flavor Friday! This is a brand new show where we have a weekly discussion on all things delicious! Callie Rupp is our flavor expert at Snowie and has brought to light many of the new innovations that we have had in the shaved ice flavor / shaved ice syrup division of Snowie. It was Callie who created the Snowie Natural line, the Fruit First product to satisfy the Smart Snack regulation on school treats, the Stevia Natural Sweet Thickener, the new Reduced Sugar Simple Syrup, and just wait until you see what is around the corner. Callie is talking to us today about our original Sweet Thickener. This product has been a game changer since its inception. Sweet Thickener is a product that allows you to artificially sweeten your shaved ice with the use of Sucralose which has a more familiar name of Splenda. We get asked all the time, “Why can’t I just use Splenda from the supermarket?” The beauty behind this product, as Callie illustrates, is that we have been able to replicate the thickness and “mouth-feel” of real sugar. Most people do not pay attention to how sugar feels in their mouth. Taste is a big deal, of course, but the feel that it creates in your mouth and the texture that it contributes to the shaved ice itself makes a bigger difference than you think. Even more important is how that product lays on the shaved ice. You will see in this video how the straight Sucralose option gets absorbed by the snowlike shaved ice as soon as it is poured, whereas the syrup-like sweet thickener sits on top of the shaved ice and gets absorbed into it slowly. This is important because of the texture of the product but also the taste. Have you ever poured a soda on snow and feel like you can barely taste the soda in it. This is what occurs when the product spreads so rapidly. It just turns the fluffy snow into a wet slush. But when you pour a delicious syrup atop shaved ice, it is the perfect combination, it is this that allows you to have delicious shaved ice bite after bite. We offer smaller portions of the Sweet Thickener in a pack of twelve “sticks.” Each individual stick will create a pint of syrup-like artificial sweetener. In order to make a quart, you will use two “sticks.” We now have added additional options for those of you who want to do Sweet Thickener on a bigger scale. We have a pack that will make one gallon, and another that will allow you to create a 5 gallon head pack. One important piece of instruction that Callie also addresses is how to mix the Sweet Thickener powder and water without having it clump together and taking a very long time to wholly dissolve. The key to this process is to make sure the water is moving as it comes into contact with the powder. When the bottle is half full, you will want to cap it and shake it until the powder is dissolved.  Once it is dissolved, you will simply top off the bottle with water and shake again. This process is similar for every size except for the 5 gallon option. In this case, you will want to use a mixer to fully dissolve the powder in a jug that large. We encourage you to give the Snowie Sweet Thickener a try. Tell your customers that you offer a sugar free option and just fill a pint or two to see how it goes with your clientele. https://snowie.com/product/sweet-thickener-sugar-free/ Good Luck!