Snow Cones!!! - the natural way! - MYO snow cone syrup

Snow cones are a favorite summer time treat! And any kid loves a snow cone, even if their parents are slightly crunchy! The store bought syrups are made with corn syrup or sugar, artificial flavors and artificial colors -YUK! Who wants to eat that? So our solution is simple, make a natural snow cone! YESSSS!!!! The cool thing is when you make your own syrups YOU get to decide what flavors you like, what goes into them, AND you save money! Have you seen the price on those syrups!? So to kick off the fun, why not ask your kids to come up with flavors they'd like to try! The crazy ones can be the tastiest of treats so go ahead and let them imagine!

Here's how to get started...

First you're going to make a syrup...

Using your own favorite recipe, or the one below make a syrup, or several syrups and let it chill. This is the super fun creative part! It's also the messy part, but hey, sometimes having fun means making a mess!

My recipe:
1 cup honey (raw is best)
1 cup water or 100% natural fruit juice
1/2 teaspoon 100% natural flavoring, or a couple of essential oils that are edible.

Mix honey and water/juice over low heat, stirring consistently, until well blended, so the honey is completely dissolved. Don't cook it, just warm it so the honey will mix in. Then remove from heat and add your flavors/ essential oils. Adjust the amounts to your own taste. If you really want colored syrups and are not using juice, you can purchase truly natural food colorings from a health food store or online. They're made from food, like beets make red etc.

A couple tips

• If you use juice you can leave out the flavors or blend flavors and juices to make them super cool!

• If you'd rather use natural unrefined sugar you can do that, either using 1 or 2 cups sugar, depending on how sweet and syrupy you want it. 
• For younger children lean to the simpler side on flavors.
• For an adult party you can get really complex flavor combinations and really wow your guests!

Beside, the typical flavors, here are a few more flavor ideas:

• hazelnut espresso
• blackberry lavender
• lemon lime mint
• watermelon pomegranate
  
• pineapple coconut
• green tea pear

Once your syrups have chilled put them in neat bottles like these, they look pretty and are easier to poor from. You could also use ketchup style squeeze bottles, used for candy making or picnics from the kitchen 

or cake decorating supply section at any department store.

Now that your syrups are ready, it's time to bring on the fun!

Shave your ice using a blender or ice shaver. Put the ice into cups and pour the flavors over the ice!

The only thing left to do is enjoy your cool sweet treat that you made yourself! (Oh and don't forget to share with the kids)
 The best thing about these is that although they are a treat, they're not nutritionally empty like the sugar syrups made from white refined sugar!

Tune in next time, we'll show you how to make your own home made juices! We're also going to teach you how to make herbal syrups! Did you know that Lemon Balm can help to calm super rowdy summer crazy kids! Learn how to have fun with your kids using herbal syrups that they'll love!

"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Deuteronomy 28:2 KJV

Blessings,

Staci