Slushy

Last updated
Slushy
Lemon-Lime Slush.jpg
A lemon-lime flavored slush drink
Alternative namesSlush, slushie, slushee, Icee, Slurpee.
Type Beverage
Place of originUnited States
Region or state Kansas
Created by Omar Knedlik
VariationsCarbonated, non-carbonated, alcoholic

A slushy (also spelled slushie and less commonly slushee) [1] is a type of beverage made of flavored ice and a drink, similar to granitas but with a more liquid composition. It is also commonly called a slush, slurpee, frozen beverage, or frozen drink. A slushie can either be carbonated or non-carbonated; the carbonated version is sometimes called a frozen carbonated drink or frozen carbonated beverage.

Contents

History

The first carbonated slushie machine was invented by Omar Knedlik, the owner of a Dairy Queen franchise. [2] In the late 1950s, the soda machine at his restaurant experienced constant issues. Sometime in 1958, his machine completely failed and he decided to store his soda in his freezer, where it became slushy when pulled out. [3] He decided to sell the slush to his customers, and the drink soon became popular. [4] Knedlik decided to pursue making slushies and commissioned Ruth Taylor to create the name and logo of The Icee Company. These early machines used an automotive air conditioning system and worked by combining and freezing a flavor mix, water, and carbon dioxide. [5]

In 1960, Knedlik partnered with John Mitchell to mass-produce slushy machines, gaining a patent in 1962. [6] In 1965, 7-Eleven bought 3 ICEE machines and signed a licensing deal with ICEE where 7-Eleven would adopt the Slurpee name for their products and they were restricted to selling the Slurpee in American 7-Eleven stores. [7] By the 1970s, Slurpee machines could be found in every American 7-Eleven store. [4]

Variations

Slushies are either carbonated or non-carbonated. They can also come in a variety of flavors ranging from fruits such as strawberry, watermelon, and pineapples, to sodas such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta, and other flavors like caramel, chocolate, vanilla, and even ice coffee. Slushies made using alcoholic drinks are called frozen alcoholic drinks.

Production

Slush machines in Italy 2021 -- Erste Julireise Mateus2019 -- Batch (242).jpg
Slush machines in Italy

Carbonated slushies are made in machines similar to regular soda fountains. Concentrated flavor syrups are mixed with filtered water, then carbonated. This mixture is then injected into a cylinder surrounded by freezer coils. The mixture freezes to the wall of the cylinder, then is scraped off by a rotating dasher, which also keeps the mixture uniformly mixed. [3] Carbonated slushie machines often freeze to a temperature well below the freezing point of water, but the combination of pressure up to 40 psi (2.8 bar), sugar, the carbon dioxide mixture that freezes −80 °C (−112 °F), [8] and the constant stirring prevent the mass from freezing solid. Carbonated slushies tend to be "drier" than their non-carbonated counterparts.

Non-carbonated slushies are made by freezing a non-carbonated juice or other liquid. Many modern non-carbonated slushy machines use a spiral-shaped plastic dasher to scrape crystals off a freezing cylinder, often integrated into a clear hopper. This product is often "wetter" than a carbonated slushy machine. Machines for producing these do not require a pressure chamber, and as a result, they are much cheaper and easier to maintain due to their simpler mechanics.

Slushies can also be produced by supercooling. [9] The first slushies in the late 1950s and early 1960s were made by supercooling. [3] Supercooled Sprite was briefly marketed by Coca-Cola in the United Kingdom. The product required a special vending machine to store the bottles in a supercooled state so they would turn to slush upon opening. [10] Supercooled slushies can be made by pouring a soda into a bottle, shaking it and putting it into a freezer, waiting 3 to 3.5 hours, and then either releasing pressure and flipping the bottle, slowly opening the bottle and pouring it out, or adding a piece of ice into the soda. [11]

Temperature

Slush is made by a mixture of sugar and water. To prevent the mixture from freezing solid, there must be between 12%-22% of sugar present in the solution. The sugar acts as an antifreeze in the solution. The slush machine stirs or rotates the mixture at a constant speed so that the sugar and water molecules bond together before the water gets a chance to freeze. In this way, a soft, wet slurry mixture is formed. [12]

Some slushies have additives to make the freezing temperature of the mix lower, so that the drink can be served much colder than a water slush drink. [13]

Brands

There are several well-known brands of slushies. The brands Calippo Burst, Slurpee, ICEE, Thirst Buster, and Froster are known for their carbonated slushes. Brands that produce non-carbonated slushes include Polar Krush, Calippo Slush Slush Puppie, Iceberg Slush System, Arctic Slush Kona Ice, and Del's.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soft drink</span> Sweetened non-alcoholic drink, often carbonated

A soft drink is any water-based flavored drink, usually but not necessarily carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used can be natural or artificial. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a sugar substitute, or some combination of these. Soft drinks may also contain caffeine, colorings, preservatives and other ingredients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margarita</span> Mexican cocktail of tequila and orange liqueur

A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice, without ice, or blended with ice. Most bars serve margaritas in a stepped-diameter variant of a cocktail glass or champagne coupe called a margarita glass. The margarita is one of the world's most popular cocktails and the most popular tequila-based cocktail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supercooling</span> Lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid

Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid. It is achieved in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal structure can form. The supercooling of water can be achieved without any special techniques other than chemical demineralization, down to −48.3 °C (−54.9 °F). Supercooled water can occur naturally, for example in the atmosphere, animals or plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surge (drink)</span> Brand of citrus-flavored soft drink

Surge is a citrus-flavored soft drink first produced in the 1990s by the Coca-Cola Company to compete with Pepsi's Mountain Dew. Surge was advertised as having a more "hardcore" edge, much like Mountain Dew's advertising at the time, in an attempt to lure customers away from Pepsi. It was originally launched in Norway as Urge in 1996, and was so popular that it was released in the United States as Surge in 1997. Lagging sales caused production to be ended in 2003 for most markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snow cone</span> Shaved ice dessert

A snow cone is a variation of shaved ice or ground-up ice desserts commonly served in paper cones or foam cups. The dessert consists of ice shavings that are topped with flavored sugar syrup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fresca</span> Branded diet citrus soft drink

Fresca is a grapefruit-flavored citrus soft drink created by The Coca-Cola Company. Borrowing the word Fresca from Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, it was introduced in the United States in 1966. Originally a bottled sugar-free diet soda, sugar sweetened versions were introduced in some markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freezie</span> Frozen confection inside plastic casing

A freezie or a freeze pop is a water-based frozen confection similar to an ice pop. It is made by freezing flavored liquid such as sugar water, fruit juice or purée inside a plastic casing or tube, either round or flat. Freezies come in sealed plastic tubular wrappers and conform to the shape of the wrapper when frozen to serve; as such, they do not need to be stored cold. They also do not need to be frozen as solidly as an ice pop and can have a consistency similar to that of a slushie. Freezies are sold in a variety of flavors, including cherry, orange, lemon-lime, watermelon, cream soda, blue raspberry and grape.

The Icee Company is an American beverage company located in La Vergne, Tennessee, United States. Its flagship product is the Icee, which is a frozen carbonated beverage available in fruit and soda flavors. Icee also produces other frozen beverages and Italian ice pops under the Icee and Slush Puppie brands. ICEE Bear, an animated polar bear, is the company's mascot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice cream maker</span> Kitchen equipment for making ice cream

A domestic ice cream maker is a machine used to make small quantities of ice cream for personal consumption. Ice cream makers may prepare the mixture by employing the hand-cranking method or by employing an electric motor. The resulting preparation is often chilled through either pre-cooling the machine or by employing a machine that freezes the mixture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slurpee</span> Frozen beverage sold by 7-Eleven

Slurpee is the brand name for carbonated slushies sold by 7-Eleven and its subsidiaries A-Plus, Speedway, & Stripes Convenience Stores. The brand originated in 1966 when 7-Eleven made a licensing deal with The Icee Company to sell slushies in 7-Eleven stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omar Knedlik</span> American businessman

Omar S. Knedlik was an American inventor and businessman. He was best known as the inventor of the ICEE frozen drink. He was born and raised a poor farm boy in Barnes, Kansas in 1916. Knedlik was a World War II veteran who bought his first ice cream shop after the war. He owned several hotels before moving to Coffeyville, Kansas, where he became the owner of a Dairy Queen in the late-1950s. It was at this Dairy Queen that he developed the Icee machine. Knedlik did not have a soda fountain, so he served semi-frozen bottled soft drinks. He found that they were immensely popular, so he worked with a Dallas company to develop the ICEE machine. It took him five years to replicate the consistency in slushy soft drinks. In the mid-1960s, the first ICEE machines were sold in the United States.

Thirst Buster is a frosty, non-alcoholic, slushy beverage available at Shell Canada gas stations. It is available in various flavors.

J&J Snack Foods Corporation (JJSFC) is an American manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of name brand snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Pennsauken, NJ, JJSF uses over 175 facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, and distributing located in 44 states, Mexico, and Canada. The company is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as “JJSFC”, and serves both national and international markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Froster</span> Iced frozen beverages

Froster is a brand of iced frozen carbonated beverage sold at Circle K in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Lithuania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margarita machine</span> Margarita dispensing device

A margarita machine, also known as a frozen drink machine is a piece of commercial foodservice equipment which dispenses a frozen margarita. A margarita mix, traditionally lime flavored, is poured into the hopper, which can be refrigerated, and may contain a spinning agitator. From the hopper, the product flows into the freezing cylinder, where it is frozen and kept at the proper viscosity to serve. The user is able to dispense margaritas from such a device for extended periods of time without losing any quality in the taste of the margaritas. A margarita machine may be purchased from a foodservice distributor and is manufactured by companies such as Spaceman USA and Taylor Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pumpable ice technology</span> Type of technology to produce and use fluids or secondary refrigerants

Pumpable icetechnology (PIT) uses thin liquids, with the cooling capacity of ice. Pumpable ice is typically a slurry of ice crystals or particles ranging from 5 micrometers to 1 cm in diameter and transported in brine, seawater, food liquid, or gas bubbles of air, ozone, or carbon dioxide.

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of SLUSHY". www.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  2. ↑ Precker, Michael (October 16, 1991). "Happy birthday to Slurpee, Icee". The Pittsburgh Press. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Wei-Haas, Maya. "The Brain-Freezing Science of the Slurpee". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  4. 1 2 Fulton, Wil (14 November 2016). "Slushies Are the World's Greatest Accident". Thrillist. Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  5. ↑ "The cool history of the Slurpee". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 2021-03-24. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  6. ↑ US 3044878,Knedlik, Omar,"Process for the Preparation of a Beverage",issued 1962-07-17
  7. ↑ admin (2012-05-03). "History of the slushie, slush, slurpee machine". Slushies and More Party Hire. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  8. ↑ Vincent, Charles W.; Mason, James (1839). "The Year-book of Facts in Science and Art".
  9. ↑ Welsh, Jennifer. "Super Cool Your Soda To Make A Slushie In Seconds". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  10. ↑ "Coca Cola Plans High Tech, Super Cool Sprite". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2020-10-31. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  11. ↑ Helmenstine, Anne Marie. "Supercool Any Soft Drink Into an Instant Slushy With This Simple Trick". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  12. ↑ "Blog - Slush Syrup Explained". www.slushco.co.uk. May 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  13. ↑ "Blog - How to Make a Slushie". www.slushyobsessed.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.