# Snow Ice Cream--Anyone else find this idea disgusting?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 2, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730 "2014-01-02T19:37:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/1 "2014-01-02T19:37:37Z")
Every year my wife gets the kids together, they go outside and collect some snow, and then bring it in mix it with condensed milk or something and eat the product. It’s ‘Snow Ice Cream.’
I find the very concept of this to be really, just completely disgusting. Eating snow? I have a strong visceral reaction against this. You may as well ask me to eat dirt.
I wonder if others share my reaction or if I’m being strange. 😉 My wife certainly has an opinion about my opinion. 😃
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/2 "2014-01-02T19:40:16Z")
Depends, my family has a big tradition of making “snow cream”, the something we mixed in was vanilla. After I grew up a bit I failed to like it at all, or find snow I thought clean enough to make some. Does your wife use clean snow? Well, visibly clean anyway, and does she get sick?
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/3 "2014-01-02T19:41:49Z")
I love snow ice cream! We made it in New England every winter, and I still make it.
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### Author:  [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/4 "2014-01-02T19:42:01Z")
You’re being strange. I did this when I was a kid. Heck, I would do it now, if it snowed where I live.
Obviously you don’t get the yellow snow, or get the snow that has been run over by a snow plow, or scoop it up with some dirt and hope for the best. You get the top layer of a deep snowfall.
It’s really no different from getting shaved ice, it’s just a fun way of getting the frozen water.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/5 "2014-01-02T19:42:28Z")
As long as she doesn’t use the deadly yellow snow crystals, I don’t see a problem with it.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/6 "2014-01-02T19:47:34Z")
Of course they do just get it from the top, “clean” snow etc. I just seem to think of snow (precipitation in general) as inherently dirty.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/7 "2014-01-02T19:51:56Z")
You and my mom.
“IS, don’t eat the snow! If you’re thirsty, come inside and get a drink of water. We have no idea what particulates it could have accumulated. Sanitation and water treatment plants exist for a reason!”
She never let me drink from the hose, either.
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### Author:  [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/8 "2014-01-02T20:01:25Z")
I just found out my brother has this trait in common with me. It must be something about how we were raised.
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### Author:  [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/9 "2014-01-02T20:26:54Z")
In a similar vein, when I was young, my grandmother always kept a pot outside at the end of the gutter drain so as to catch the rain water. It was her strong preference for washing her hair. She said that tap water simply didn’t work as well. I never understood the difference, personally.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/10 "2014-01-02T20:42:42Z")
The reason for that is because rainwater has fewer mineral deposits than water that comes through pipes and leaves your hair softer and fluffier. If you have a water softener in your home, then it is pointless to use rainwater.
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### Author:  [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/11 "2014-01-02T20:49:08Z")
I remember being warned not to eat snow because of the fallout from atomic bomb testing.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/12 "2014-01-02T20:49:51Z")
The eating snow part isn’t what’s sounding weird to me (assuming the snow is clean, that is). No, we used to eat snow all the time as kids. It was just a fun, winter activity for when we went out to play.
The weird part is bringing it inside and mixing it with something. WTF? 😕
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/13 "2014-01-02T21:15:24Z")
Ice can’t crystallize on nothing. A snowflake is formed on a speck of dust. That’s why, every spring, there’s a small dark mound where there used to be a big white mound before the thaw. Don’t eat it.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/14 "2014-01-02T21:19:12Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> Ice can’t crystallize on nothing. A snowflake is formed on a speck of dust. That’s why, every spring, there’s a small dark mound where there used to be a big white mound before the thaw. Don’t eat it.
Horse Pucky.
Tell me, do you use a HEPA filter face mask all the time? Because, you know, you are breathing all that horrible dust into your sensitive lungs _all day long._
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/15 "2014-01-02T21:31:36Z")
Well, not a HEPPA filter, but I have told my nostril hairs are oh so sexy (I think its because they send a subliminal signal to women that I’m tall if they can see them, and it reminds them of their dentist: a high paying profession)
But anyway, fine. Do this then: scoop up a second batch of snow and let it melt. Then decide if you want to eat the sediment.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/16 "2014-01-02T21:36:12Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> But anyway, fine. Do this then: scoop up a second batch of snow and let it melt. Then decide if you want to eat the sediment.
I probably wouldn’t scoop it off the ground but place out a clean container to capture fresh falling snow.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/17 "2014-01-02T21:43:20Z")
Mmm, watered down condensed milk. Sounds tasty!
/Sarcasm 🙂
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/18 "2014-01-02T22:01:20Z")
According to the Canada Safety Council, enjoy snow in moderation. 😃
> [@](#):
>
> Researchers have analyzed 20 samples of snow taken from various places around the world, such as Montana , the Yukon and Antarctica . The bacteria levels were high in all the samples. The most widespread bacteria in all samples proved to be Pseudomonas syringae.
>
> …
> Here are a few safety tips to remind your children, once that first snowfall hits the ground:
>
> ```
> Licking the snow off a glove is likely to be fine. Having a “meal” of snow is probably not a good idea.
> Make sure your child does not eat a lot of snow. It also contains particles from ordinary air pollution.
> Catching a snowflake on the tongue is OK. Eating snow that’s on the ground is not OK.
>
> ```
> **[Publications – Safety Canada – Canada Safety Council](https://canadasafetycouncil.org/publications/)**
>
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/19 "2014-01-02T22:01:41Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> But anyway, fine. Do this then: scoop up a second batch of snow and let it melt. Then decide if you want to eat the sediment.
Next time I’m anywhere near fresh snowfall, I’ll be sure to do that…
Anyway, I ate snow all the time as a kid. People are _way_ too germophobic these days.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snow-ice-cream-anyone-else-find-this-idea-disgusting/677730/20 "2014-01-02T22:06:29Z")
I made this when I was a kid. You use fresh snow, off the bushes. Brush a little snow into a bowl to cool it off, then dump that out. Refill with more snow and take inside. It works best when it’s colder out. I just used whole milk, some sugar, a little vanilla, and some food color to make it look good. Cream instead of milk would probably work as well. We get skim milk now, and I don’t know if that would have enough body without any fat.
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