Where did Shaved Ice Come From?
Japanese plantation workers who migrated to Hawaii around 1920 to 1930 to work in the sugar and pineapple fields bought shave ice to Hawaii. In Japan shave ice is called Kakigori and it dates back to the Heian period running from 794 to 1185 A.D. During that time the ice was brought down from the mountains in the winter and stored in a cave called ‘Himuro’ in Japanese and means ‘Ice room’. At that time ice was considered rare and shave ice was a luxury, a treat reserved for royalty only. Today, these ice treats remain popular in Japan, which is the source of most shave ice machines. When Japanese immigrants in Hawaii moved off the plantations and opened their own family-run grocery stores, shave ice went commercial and it was, and still is, hugely popular. In the 1950s, children would order their shave ice by color only, knowing what flavor each color represents.
