Since he was a child growing up in Bermuda, Michael G. Cox, 70, has often enjoyed a sugary, ice-cold snowball on a hot, steamy summer day.
It’s a simple joy he shares today with his grandchildren, 11-year-old Kemari and 8-year-old AJ.
“In the summertime, it cools me,” he says one afternoon outside the Bermuda Cupcake Company, which serves a variety of fluffy custom-made snowballs among its bounty of treats.
All along the roadside in Bermuda during the summer, near cricket matches, street festivals or beaches, anywhere people gather or stop by, you will find snowball stands.
The tropical island air come summer can sap the breath right out of a person. On those days — after a day at camp, an afternoon in the office or a morning in church — only something icy will do.
Some establishments are big deals with heavy walk-up traffic and multiple and very pumped-up refreshments.
Others are tucked along roads or behind a home or near a ferry stop, waiting for day campers or tourists or just regulars to stop by.
All offer an icy, drippy, multi-flavored treat that takes a bit of the edge of a sultry Bermuda summer day.
“It refreshes you right through,” says Cristal D’Simons, stopping one day for a cotton candy and ginger beer snowball at Beat the Heat Treats in Somerset.
Icy, sugary treats are not unique to Bermuda and snowballs are no exception. Cousins include snow cones in the United States and Italian ices or fruity sorbets across the ocean.
But snowballs here are deeply embedded in culture and memory. That fluffy texture is crucial and the flavors, such as ginger beer and pineapple, are island-inspired.
And many snowball fans agree on this: it’s a tasty relief you just don’t get from a more solid helping of ice cream.
So where do you find them?
The island’s best-placed snowball operation is probably the aptly named Snowy’s, a Bermuda landmark for 26 years.
Tucked in the top corner of the busy City Hall parking lot in Hamilton, underneath some
appreciated shade trees, it attracts foot traffic and regulars alike looking to cool off with its famous frosty snowball.
Pamela Ingham runs the popular stand, founded by her late husband Larry, who died two years ago of cancer at age 62.
“My husband’s dream was always to be right in the center of town. He prayed on it. He was very gifted,” Pamela tells a visitor on an early summer Sunday.
Pamela grew up in St. Georges around food. Her family ran Reid’s Restaurant, famous for its beef pies and lemon tarts. Snowballs were also offered with syrup made by scratch.
Snowy’s began as a kiosk on Princess Street across the street from City Cycles, where Larry worked. After repairing motor bikes all day, he sold his snowballs.
For the cycle repairs, Larry wasn’t always paid, Pamela says. Whereas with snowballs, people paid with cash.
The path was clear.
“He took a risk, or a leap of faith, and developed this business of snowballs,” Pamela says.
On a sunny Sunday, a steady stream of customers, locals and tourists visit Snowy’s.
Pamela, a sports massage therapist by trade, is passionate about helping children and giving
back to her school, the Bermuda Institute. She tries to hire staff from the school first, either current students or those coming back from college for the summer.
It’s these young staffers who often come up with ideas for new snowballs such as the galaxy bowl or the rainbow, spinning their own colorful and syrupy designs.
“I tell my students get to know as many customers as you can and memorize what they like. Makes it a more personalized service. Lead with a smile,” Pamela says.
At Snowy’s, customers may choose three toppings from 24 flavors like peach, sour apple, root beer and tropical punch.
“It really works when it’s really hot,” Pamela says. “The ice keeps you cooler than an ice cream. It’s very refreshing.”
Customers agree.
“I think it’s the best snowball in Bermuda,” says Zoe Caines, 15, who enjoyed a bubble gum and cotton candy snowball under the trees with her cousin, Jalisa Caines, 15. “The ice is really soft. They have lots of flavors.”
Fluffy and perfectly presented snowballs are a relatively new phenomenon in the business.
Not too long ago, snowball vendors had to chop the ice or grind the ginger by hand.
Snowballs were sloppy and drippy in those days. The chunkier ice didn’t nicely catch the syrup, which just flowed to the bottom of the cup.
Even when the first machines came along a generation ago, they didn’t chop the blocks into the fluffy ice produced by the modern grinders.
Today, stands big and small dot the island during the long hot months, which in Bermuda may stretch into November.
Claytown Snowballs on the north shore announces on social media that it is “now open and ready to serve you that refreshing snowball. Blessings to all!” At Clearwater Beach, Sister Treats advertises its sugar-free and “herbal gourmet flavors” of snowballs.
And so on.
Many operations are like Beat the Heat Treats, a small seasonal stand across from the Somerset Cricket Club, tucked off the main road. It benefits from its proximity to the club and Somerset Primary School down the street.
The stand sits in the backyard of owner Nestah Woods, who made the $1600 to $1800 investment in an ice machine three years ago. “It pays for itself, I’ll tell you that,” he tells a visitor.
What does it take to run a snowball business? Ice, naturally. A machine. Syrup, bought and mixed with concentrate and sugar or homemade, your choice. Add some styrofoam cups, napkins — even fluffy snowballs can be sticky — and you’re in business.
At Beat the Heat Treats, customers pay from $2 for a kid-sized snowball to $6 for an extra large.
What makes a good snowball?
Is it an art?
“Not really,” says Tamiyah Durrant, who mans the stand one Saturday afternoon. “It’s just ice and syrup really. Some people (who sell snowballs) will have hard rock ice. Some people will have soft ice. Depends where you go.”
It requires no measuring, just a good eye and practice. “I just pour (the syrup),” she says. “You just judge it, you know.”
Tamiyah, who works full-time as a chef at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, adds that “Ours are pretty nice (snowballs). People tend to like ours best. (The ice is) not too hard, not too soft.”
The block of ice makes a grinding sound as it’s popped into the machine, a bit like a household refrigerator when it’s working hard on a hot summer day. Only louder.
Reggae plays in the background. A man on a motor bike rides zips by yelling,
“What’s going on beloved?” “Everything’s blessed,” Nestah shouts back.
Andreka Outerbridge, who lives on nearby Boaz Island, drove up with her son Keni, 16, that afternoon. Snowballs, she says, are refreshing.
“I like snowballs. I can have them during the winter and summer,” she says with a laugh, taking home her icy treats in a cardboard cup carrier.
While Beat the Heat Treats and other small stands stick to a more traditional snowball, the Bermuda Cupcake Company in Pembroke takes it to a another level.
Owner Malisa Swan represents a new generation of treat makers in Bermuda. She’s constantly working to elevate old-school desserts into something more, including that ever fancier snowball.
At her custom trailer on Railroad Terrace in Pembroke, customers line up for snowballs and other treats from her extensive sweet and savory menu.
Tired of the ordinary snowball in a cup? How about a snowball in a pineapple? Or a snowball topped with whipped cream or gummy bears, cherries and maybe an umbrella? Can’t decide between ice cream and a snowball? Have them both in one dessert.
“It’s not just your old traditional snowball,” Malisa says. “We make fancy snowballs.
We try to be as different as possible.”
In another break from tradition, or maybe a throwback to an earlier day, the Bermuda Cupcake Company snowballs are created with home-made syrup, hand-shaken in the tiny workshop behind the counter. Malisa uses pure cane sugar and no preservatives.
And she’s always experimenting with new flavors and combinations, traveling regularly to industry shows in the United States to keep up to date.
Her customers, she says, are happy to test the many different and dreamed-up flavors and combinations.
“People mix it up,” Malisa says. “A real traditional Bermudian snowball is strawberry and pineapple and ginger beer. And a real old school snowball flavor is root beer and lemon and ginger beer.”
Then there’s the less traditional big sellers, she says, like cotton candy and bubble gum or even wedding cake, the most popular flavor at the bright pink stand. For $4.50, you get up to three flavors on your snowball.
“In America, believe it or not, if you get more than one flavor, you have to pay for the flavor,” Malisa says. “In Bermuda, it’s all included. In America, if you say you want a snow cone, it’s either cherry, grape, pineapple or orange. And you have to pay for all the other flavors.”
Along with its Pembroke location, the Bermuda Cupcake Co. travels to business functions, charity events and Harbor Nights, Bermuda’s weekly downtown summer celebration.
It’s a family effort. Amir, 11, Zan’i, 8 and even Ma’layah, 4, pitch in at different times to help.
“My four-year-old grabs the customers (at events and says), ‘Come get your snowballs from the snowball shed!’ She’s very helpful. They all are very helpful.”
At the end of the summer, the family is rewarded with one big summer trip. It’s simply too busy to do much else during the main snowball season when lines sometimes snake all the way up to the main road.
Like so many other Bermudians, Malisa grew up enjoying an icy snowball in the summer. Her first job, coincidentally, was at Snowy’s when she was 14 years old.
About eight years ago, she decided to give her own business a try, borrowing supplies from a cousin who ran a stand on the south shore. She built the business from nothing, starting with a little white tent she brought to events and adding her own supplies as the operation grew.
Now she has a 5-by-8-foot trailer with a water tank, heater, and pump.
And while snowballs are typically a seasonal item in Bermuda, Malisa says, she sell hers all-year-round.
“We have people knocking on our door in November saying, ‘How do we get a snowball?’ If you need a snowball on Christmas Eve, we got it.”
So maybe it’s not just a summer treat after all.
“Right up till the last drip in our snowballs,” Malisa says. “Tasty flavors and lots of ice in our snowballs. You’re not going to get a dry snowball.
“It’s very tasty. It’s fluffy. It’s very good.”