Sno Kones

[Major Mallet]

I am thinking about gifting 2,000 sno-kones for 2008. I know how much ice and syrup I need plus I can get a commercial grade ice shaver. I also know I need to get a food permit. Does anyone have any experience with trying to make and distribute sno-knoes on the playa? Are there any problems or obstacles I should know about?

[scootert]

They're out there, and people love them. Paper cones, which become the recipient's responsibility. Thanks - sure hope I see you out there!

[Dustdevil]

I run two slushy machines making frozen margaritas. Make certain you have more than enough generator for you ice shaver. Also, we found keeping them under an Easy Up lowers the amount of time it takes to freeze and the machines are not working so hard. DON'T leave a garbage can outside for the empty cups. It will get filled very quickly with lots of unwanted debris. We encourage people to bring their own cups, but naturally that won't work for you. You will have a great time and the interaction with the citizens of BRC will be priceless.

[thisisthatwhichis]

Not to worry..... It's f*in DOOMED, That machine will never get outside of Terminal City, before it's all consumed........

[Toolmaker]

You can get a bunch of hand shavers and make the folks work for their treat.



I have seen carts both electric and manual around that would be neat if ya can afford it. I am poor so if I were to do it I would go with a homemade cart setup with the hand shavers attached to the sides so nobody can walk off with em. I'd use the blocks from Arctica and maybe a 12V peltier cooler type thing to keep the blocks cold on the cart. That way you only run the genny at camp to recharge. The syrups can be had anywhere as well as the paper cones and cups so be sure to shop around for a good deal. My personal preference is for the italian ice syrups but I think they may be a lil more pricey than the kool aid type ones. BTW the pic isn't the only kind of hand shaver out there. If you go with something higher end stay away from the junk thats plastic and try to get a commercial grade setup from a food supply joint. Ebuy is good for deals but sometimes is better with something big to pay extra for local pickup and have the option of having someplace for service and parts.

[Major Mallet]

Dustdevil and Scootert – thanks for your comments and support. I hope to see you both out there!

TITWI – I know I am doomed. That’s why I signed on with APOKILIPTIKA in the first place. :lol:

Toolmaker – EXCELLENT idea to use hand shavers. Saves a lot of cost, is easy to move about the playa, and makes people participate to “earnâ€

[AntiM]

We use our big old hand-crank Japanese machine some years. Uses block ice, makes snow. I have found some people won't eat/drink the syrups because they're loaded with colors and preservatives. I'm off them myself, but know how to make them from koolaod and sugar. Yes, the cups or cones create MOOP, you can't really get around it. Bring your own cup does not always work. We put ours on a garden cart and haul it behind the bike, we never serve from camp.

Looks something like this, but ours is older:



In fact, ours is pretty much exactly like the one in Memoirs of a Geisha. Pretty much.

[Major Mallet]

I noticed that a lot of folks don't have cups with them. Kind of odd considering the environment. Anyway, I am now thinking that instead of using paper cups, I will give out cones to those folks who have a cup OR gifting a cup to them. A military surplus store near me is selling German Army plastic coffee cups for 29 cents each (I am pretty certain I can get the price even lower if I purchase 400-500 of them). A practical playa gift, no?

[stargeezer]

I would like to hear more about your thoughts on using a peltier cooling system.

A peltier cooler is good for about 40 F, which means it can keep ice until ambient temp exceeds 70 F, but the sno kones will be popular when it is much hotter, so probably not a good cooling system. I would suggest using a good cooler and keeping it shaded as best as possible rather than trying the peltier. Also, put a grate in the cooler to hold the ice out of the water as the ice melts will help.

[rane]

i can has snow cone?

[oneeyeddick]

The three different times I can remember having a snowcone in years past at Burning Man, one thing they all had in common was having the added flavor of hot dog water.

[nick]

Camp Unofficial has made snow cones the last two years. A few thoughts:

- The biggest enemy is dust. Although we had a tent and met all the requirement for our permit, once the wind kicked up to a certain level, we had to stop.

- The health department WILL inspect you and you must be prepared with a hand-washing station, real ice scoops (not a cup) and everything else they require.

- We gave out paper cups and disposed of them for those who wanted us to take them back. Giving out plastic reusable cups sounds great -- but note that the snow cone is a cone for a reason -- it's hard to eat an icey out of a deep mug!

Good luck!

-n

[Major Mallet]

Nick - are there any other permit requirements I need to be concerned with? Do you recall what the cost of the permit was? If I go with the manual shavers, I would think that anyone using them would have to wash and/or use an anti-bacterial lotion before shaving the ice. Cups could be a problem but they are much less likely to become moop like paper cups will. I will have to further ponder the plastic or paper cup quandary.

[Ugly Dougly]

Yellow snow?

[nick]

There's a host of requirements, which Nevada details nicely on the worksheet available here:

http://tinyurl.com/yv3d7n

[Simon of the Playa]

does anyone remember the GIANT sno-kone?

i think it was 97'.......they unveiled it on like thursday or friday.....handed out shavers, and had syrups surrounding it for dispensing.

was that a glorious hallucination or was it truly Chillin'?


either way it was PHENOMENAL!

[Dustdevil]

That was my second BM. I had forgotten about that, but it NOT in your imagination!

[Lifeisshort]

I love your idea and snow cones or anything cold are always a welcome gift on the playa. Maybe you should consider making eatable cones. If you are interested contact me and I will teach you how.

[Tiahaar]

edible cones! no reason you couldn't use regular ice cream cones (or better the sugar cones) maybe a little leaky but YUM snow cones are awesome on a hot playa day.

[BitterDan]

My opinion? Forget the cones/cups. There are plenty of bars/services that will NOT serve you if you dont have your own cup (Deep End comes to mind). BM is an exercise in self-reliance, if they don't have their own cup then they aren't prepared for BM. If I were doing this, I would not provide any cups at all. You can still eat shaved ice out of a mug/cup, it's just not as easy. But, hey, nothing at BM is easy.

"Fuck the cup, pour it my hands for a dime"
- Chris Rock, "I'm gonna git you sucka"

[Ugly Dougly]

does anyone remember the GIANT sno-kone?

i think it was 97'.......they unveiled it on like thursday or friday.....handed out shavers, and had syrups surrounding it for dispensing.

was that a glorious hallucination or was it truly Chillin'?


either way it was PHENOMENAL!

It was no hallicination, at least the big mucking piece of ice. The shavers and the syrup, I missed that; they probably had run out by the time I wandered over there.

[ibdave]

Our camp took a Cotton Candy machine out and handed out over 3000. We had to use the paper cone to make the candy. We just had a trash bag with us and told everyone that we had it for them when they were done.. What happen was a lot of people just hung talking to new friends until they were done and gave us back the used paper cones... It was way fun to have a new group of friend to talk to every few minutes..

[lonestoner916]

I am thinking about gifting 2,000 sno-kones for 2008. I know how much ice and syrup I need plus I can get a commercial grade ice shaver. I also know I need to get a food permit. Does anyone have any experience with trying to make and distribute sno-knoes on the playa? Are there any problems or obstacles I should know about?

Here's an excerpt from an article I wrote for the Beacon's website! This might help you out some...


"We should look for someone to eat and drink with before we look for something to eat and drink." ~Epicurus


Thinking of feeding the Playa people next year? Is it your "American Dream" to impress your fellow Burners with your culinary prowess? Do you want to be the proud chef of the finest eating establishment in Black Rock City? Or maybe you just want to provide a place for dirty hippies with the munchies and danced-out, half-starved ravers to wash down a grilled cheese sandwich with warm Kool-Aid laced with mushroom tea?? Either way, this article provides valuable information to help ensure that your food sharing camp is legal and up to par.

In order to (legally) run a food sharing camp at Burning Man, you will need to apply for a temporary food vendor permit, the application is available for download here: health.nv.gov/BHPS/ehs/eh...TempApp.doc There's a fifty dollar fee to receive this permit, unless you're a religious, charitable, or other non-profit organization, in which case a tax exempt certification or ID number is required.

In addition to this, if you are bringing large amounts of propane you will need to notify Harley, Earth Guardian Extraordinaire, at hramazon@burningman.com, so she can get you set up with a BRC permit and notify the fire department if there's an emergency.

The statutes and regulations for food service to the public in the state of Nevada (revised statutes 446 and Nevada Administrative Code 446) can be read online at the Nevada Bureau of Health Protection Services website: health.nv.gov./index.php But they are, to quote my esteemed colleague, a long hard read.

To save you a little time and a lot of headache, I contacted a couple of people with experience running a food sharing camp, people who've been there, and done that.

The Pancake Playhouse is one of the most well known camps on the Playa, and a great place to have a little breakfast after dancing the night away! Even the Health Department loves them, check out what they had to say about them on page 12 of their official report on BM '05 here: health.nv.gov/BHPS/ehs/Bu...gMan2005.pdf
Cara (Miss Kitchin) Despota, of the abovementioned Pancake Playhouse, was kind enough to respond to my emails and provided the following information. She wrote: "First off, Pancake Playhouse does not store any perishable food, so I don't know anything about that. We use only bagged batter mix and water. Oh, and industrial-sized Log Cabin Syrup too! We have to get a health permit at home, before we leave. Once there, it must be on display before we can start serving. Some years, the Health Dept. comes every day. Other years, it's less often. Each time they visit, they go down a checklist and give us an overall health score. If we have problems, we have to address them, and then the Health Dept. comes back the next day to check up.
Some things we have to do:
1. Store all mix, syrup, and water off the ground. We use shelves for this.
2. Cover the floor of the kitchen with tarps or carpet.
3. Everyone in the kitchen must wear a head covering.
4. Servers must wear gloves and use tongs.
5. We may not accept donated items to serve the public.
6. We must wash dishes in a mixture that includes bleach.
7. We must have a designated hand washing station."

[transgirl]

Permits for food service? WTH! Eat at your own risk.

gripe. Overlegislation.

[oneeyeddick]

What is that I smell ?

[Ugly Dougly]

5. We may not accept donated items to serve the public.

Er? Hey, kewl, I just "gifted" those fools with Sno-Cone syrup spiked with LSD. Now watch the fun!

Oh, it happens. Not to you, I hope.

[theCryptofishist]

Permits for food service? WTH! Eat at your own risk.

gripe. Overlegislation.

You might have an iron stomach, but when you can't use most of the JotS onplaya cause you're in a chair, having the trots just aint appealing.

[tubahurl]

take it from the Pop Corn Guy's. it is really rewarding to give out yummy stuff on the playa, especially late at night. we did it for three years. the problem is the moop. the last time we did it, we ended up skimming the playa with a long board searching for popcorn kernels for four hours. people in general have good intentions with not mooping things like paper bags, but too many people leave it up to the cleanup crew, and that ain't right. needless to say, we don't do kettle corn at BRC anymore. if you can find a way to prevent mooping, by all means do it.

[changoloco]

[quote="AntiM"]We use our big old hand-crank Japanese machine some years. Uses block ice, makes snow. I have found some people won't eat/drink the syrups because they're loaded with colors and preservatives. I'm off them myself, but know how to make them from koolaod and sugar. Yes, the cups or cones create MOOP, you can't really get around it. Bring your own cup does not always work. We put ours on a garden cart and haul it behind the bike, we never serve from camp.

Looks something like this, but ours is older:

[img]http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/8339/ha110sthumbuf5.jpg[/img]

In fact, ours is pretty much exactly like the one in Memoirs of a Geisha. Pretty much.[/quote]

http://www.naturesflavors.com/default.php?cPath=63

Damn google is amazing isn't it? There's a preservative free syrup for the orgasmic people in your camp.

[Vampira]

WOW, that is so cool.

I would think burners would just have their own cups with them at all times, so maybe you don't need the paper cups, it will help with MOOP, at lest thats how this 2008 Virgin burner see it. I don't wanna be out there for another month picking it up.