Little Snowie Ice Crusher

Review by R. Preston McAfee, June, 2013

In May, 2012, I purchased the Little Snowie ice crusher for $261. We had been using a fussy shaved ice machine for several years. The Little Snowie was one of those rare purchases that delivered much greater value than its price, and when the current unit breaks I will definitely buy another one. It is still going strong midway through its second summer, and it gets a lot of use.

The reviews on Amazon are, in my experience, accurate. Specifically,

  • The machine makes a large bowl of fine snow-cone ice in about ten seconds
  • It doesn't matter what kind of ice cubes you use
  • It doesn't actually make shaved ice but very finely crushed ice
  • Don't fill it beyond the inside lower rim (about half full) and it won't jam
  • If it jams, pushing ice counterclockwise unjams it (ice pressing against inside rim is what causes jams)
  • It is an extremely powerful and commensurately loud machine
  • The ice comes out nearly horizontally and there is some learning-by-doing in catching it
  • In the summer we use it every day, sometimes twice

An important reason it gets so much use was the discovery that we can easily make our own flavoring. We got onto this because the store-bought favorings are about 200 calories per bowl, and the calorie-free, Splenda-sweetened flavors come in few flavors, are hard to get and are expensive. This is the recipe:

  • 1.5 cups granulated Splenda or sugar
  • 2 packets of Kool Aid drink mix
  • water to fill to 4 cups

Mix Splenda and Kool Aid in a 4 cup measuring cup, and add water to reach four cups. Stir. Pour in a bottle suitable for pouring on ice such as old ones bought from the store. The best flavors, we think, are lemon-lime, grape and blue-raspberry-lemonade. The adults like orange, because of some ridiculous nostalgia for Tang. Black cherry tastes like cough drops. The mixed berry is blue and okay, and the strawberry is no one's favorite. So far we haven't found blue raspberry in the store.

Hard to beat when the weather gets hot.

Jan 2018: We still use this daily in the summer. What a great thing!