I love Slurpees™. Maybe they call 'em Icees or slushies or squishies where you live… whatever. These convenience-store-dispensed treats are the perfect way to cool off in hot weather - as one commercial pointed out, they’re as cold as ice because they ARE ice. Little tiny granules of ice, finer in texture than salt is. Ahhhhhhhhh.
However, they’re always some sticky, sugary flavor that leaves a coating on the inside of your mouth. They used to offer a lime flavor that I loved, but I haven’t seen that flavor in years… now you get gross stuff like blue raspberry instead.
Which leads me to wonder: is it possible to Slurp-ify plain water, or - ooh - iced tea? Can it be done, or is the syrup component required for successful Slurpification? Are there any Dopers with access to a Slurpee machine that will make the experiment? You just KNOW those yuppie joggers would pay top dollar for an Evian Slurpee.
Yes actually, I believe I know the chemical “Slurpifier” you have in mind.
Welcome to the wonderful world of non-nutritive hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, and especially the star of the family Polyols-polysaccharides A&B[sup]TM[/sup] (ask for them by name!)
Nummy!
Okay, this stuff is a sweet modified corn starch, hydrogenated to add thickness, which has an added benifit of making ice crystals not want to stick together as much as they usually want to (somebody might want to explain that part to me as well) so when added to crushed ice you get a more homogeneus fluid rather than a sticky-together snowcone-type mass.
If you really want to play around with it you used to be able to buy the stuff in fifty gallon drums from Beatrice Foods (“Were Beatrice!”) for twenty bucks each. Stuff was also a great adulterant for soy-based newspaper ink.
Actually what I’m dreaming of is something with the texture of a slurpee, but not sweet or sticky. Something that has no more taste than water (or unsweetened iced tea) but is slushy like a slurpee. Your chemical additive sounds too sweet to qualify.
I’m pretty sure the mixing in the slurpee machine is a factor in the texture of the slurpee, along with some sort of surfactant to keep the ice crystals from cohering into one large block of ice.
The other problem is frequently encountered in blended margaritas - the beverage is made with pulverized ice, and the ice crystals melt too quickly and dilute whatever flavoring you’re trying to enjoy - much like a snow-cone.
Try using one of those electric ice cream makers that you put in your home freezer, and use some sort of gelatin or glycol solution - kind of like a very slushy gelato. Mix it in with whatever beverage you want to use, and put that in the ice cream maker.
Iced Tea slurpee sounds like a great idea. Especially if it’s in the southern, extra-sweet style.
There used to be a toy sno-cone machine… It was in the shape of Snoopy’s doghouse, I believe, and you’d just add an ice cube and whatever flavors you wanted, and it ground it all up and extruded it into a Dixie cup. Would this be what you’re looking for, or do you want something smoother?
I think that freezing carbonated water, instead of regular water, might improve the texture somewhat, but YMMV.
I have a cup at home that you store in the freezer. Add your favorite beverage and stir occasionally and it makes a slurpee for you. Sugared drinks work well, better if carbonated like Chronos said. Diet colas and the like without suger don’t work so well at all. Though I did once make a beer slurpee, it was nasty.
The Slurpee process is quite similar to the ice cream making process. By keeping the ice cream in motion you continuously add energy to the mass being stirred. This prevents the formation of anything larger than seed crystals. This is why refrozen ice cream never has the same texture. The growth of the ice crystals was not limited by agitation.
In order to keep a large quantity of watery liquid at a freezing temperature (needed for ice crystals) and yet not have it clump together undesirably, you probably need to interfere with the ionic bonds of the water molecules using something that inhibits run-away crystal growth.
Sugar molecules (much more refreshing than salt) bind quite nicely to water and with the addition of a solidification modifier like that predigested cornstarch, presto-changeo, Slurpee. I’m sure that you start with cold water, syrup and the cornstarch (in the syrup), slowly bring down the temperature, stirring all the while to inhibit crystallation.