Nothing says summer in Japan like kakigori! One of my favorite things to do is to eat kakigori on a hot summer day. Although I spent my childhood in the U.S. eating frozen treats like snow cones and popsicles, they do not even compare to the wonder of the quintessential Japanese summer treat, kakigori.

kakigori, often called shaved ice in English, has a long history. It was first mentioned in a writing called The Pillow Book in the Heian Period. At that time, kakigori was exclusively a treat for the elite. The advancement of cold storage technology in the Meiji Period, and the invention of ice shaving machines in the 1930s made it accessible to the common people. It began to appear at local restaurants and became a staple of street stalls and summer festivals. Nowadays, many people even buy their own kakigori machines to make it fresh in their homes.

So, what makes kakigori so special? The key is the finely shaved ice, which many compare to freshly fallen snow that melts on the tongue. Using a huge block of ice to create this texture is still very common, although home ice makers and some shops use small ice cubes. The traditional way to make kakigori is to pour fruit-flavored syrups topped with condensed milk over the shaved ice, but kakigori has evolved into a culinary work of art, with some shops using fruit, bean paste, mochi, and matcha as toppings.

The popularity of kakigori has spread to my home country, the United States. While it has always been popular in Hawaii due to the presence of a large Japanese community, restaurants serving kakigori have popped up around the country. As the weather continues to get hotter and hotter each summer, this unique Japanese summer treat is bound to become even more and more popular.