xue hua bing: Taiwanese shaved ice dessert

As you can see in the photo above, the snow ice comes off the blocks in thin, curvy ripples, and they're paired with fresh fruits and fruit purees.



A block of strawberry-flavored ice is being mounted onto a shave ice machine



Pink Lady, a strawberry-flavored shave ice topped with strawberry syrup, strawberry, litchi coco, passion fruit, popping boba and rainbow sprinkles.


Janice Kuo, owner of Snowflake Cafe and Dessert, shaves a block of mango-flavored shaved ice onto a plate at their store in Pleasanton, Calif.



Tropic Mango, a mango-flavored shave ice topped with mango, litchi coco, yogurt popping boba, mango sauce and rainbow sprinkles.

Flavorings such as green tea or chocolate are mixed into a base of milk and water, then frozen into cylindrical blocks that look like giant candles. The blocks are mounted onto an ice shaver, which slices it off in sheets - thin enough that they melt in the mouth, much like cotton candy. It's very low-calorie and low in sugar.