I grew up in the Philadelphia area, where water ice is as iconic a summer dessert as ice cream cones and Popsicles. Maybe more so.
It’s a frozen treat made from water, sugar and some sort of flavoring — usually fruit. It is firmer than a slushy, softer than sorbet and smoother than granita. Unlike with a snow cone, the flavor is mixed in before freezing, instead of being poured over a frozen ball at the end. You might know it as Italian ice, but it bears little resemblance to the hard, frozen variety you find in supermarket freezers.
For more than a century, Philadelphians have been cooling themselves down with this icy dessert. As a kid, I assumed the rest of America was doing the same.
Then I moved to San Francisco and, eventually, Boston, and found my water ice options severely limited. If there were shops selling water ice in those cities, I never saw them. And I was looking.
Today, thanks in part to the chain Rita’s Italian Ice, water ice is steadily spreading across the country. Founded by a retired Philadelphia firefighter named Bob Tumolo, Rita’s began as a small store in Bensalem, Pa., in 1984. It now has more than 600 stores selling the dessert from California to Georgia and Minnesota to Texas.
Water Ice, Philly’s Classic Summer Cooler, Gets Hot Across The Country
Photos: (top and bottom) Courtesy of Carmen’s Italian Ice, (center) Courtesy of Rita’s Italian Ice
Pronounced “wooder ice.”
