SUMMER CHANGES: Businesses adapt to the season. SEE PAGE 3B
HOT LUNCH: The String Cheese Incident offers with Outside Inside. SEE PAGE 4B
TALK TO US: Contact Emily Hughey or Kyle Ramsey at (785) 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
FEATURES
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2001
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY THAD ALLENDER/KANSAN
Ahhh! The refreshing, and sometimes surprising, taste of slimy syrup slush called "slurpees" are a fixture in all of America's roadside convenience stores.
Brain freeze: an ice cold answer to a hot question
Three thirsty KU students sample Lawrence's frozen treats
Story by Luke Wetzel
Every summer, local Slurpee enthusiasts face an awful truth there are no authentic Slurpees in Lawrence.
Although purists may argue that other products are simply "wannabes" masquerading as the 7-11 treat, the gas stations and stores of Lawrence are awash with frozen desserts. You just have to know where to look. Learning to navigate the confusing web of snow cones, Icees and Slurpee spinoffs inLawrence can be done.
Although the machines in today's gas stations look like neon fuel tanks for rocket ships, the first snow cones were enjoyed as far back as the Roman times. Romans hauled snow from mountain tops to the city, where syrup was added to make the world's first recorded frozen dessert. Wooden planes were used to crush ice in later centuries, and hand-held ice shavers were invented in the late 1800s. Ernest Hanson invented the first motorized ice-block shaver in 1934, which quickly inspired other New Orleans vendors.
The modern frozen dessert was changed forever when Omar Knedlik, owner of a Coffeyville, Kan., Dairy Queen, began putting soda in the freezer to sell to customers. The treat caught on so well that he spent five years building a machine to create frozen carbonated beverages which he dubbed as Icees. By the mid 1960s, there were 300 Icee machines. Today, enough Icees are consumed each year to cover the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.
Since the Icee's inception, dozens of similar drinks have been created from its template. In order to sort them out, a team of three tastestesters was assembled. They analyzed frozen desserts based on consistency, flavor and other factors. Multiple gas stations were hit on two separate ventures. New flavors were tried. Brain freezes were acquired. It was 90 degrees and sunny. All in all, it was not a bad day for frozen dessert experimentation.
The first stop was the Raj Food Mart,
1000 W. 23rd St., which sells Chili Willis.
Jon Breeding, Springfield, Mo., junior.
decided the thrill was somehow lacking from the chill.
"It doesn't hold together well," he said, watching the color of the syrup disappear from the ice with each slurp. "The flavor is acceptable but perhaps too saccharine."
Next on Breeding's menu were a French Vanilla Gourmet Ice at Kwik Shop, 1714 W. 23rd St., and an Alpine Blast Orange Dream at the Conoco Break Place, 2447 W. 6th St.
"The ice was the best part." Breeding said. "I'm a vanilla fan in most instances, but this flavor was the bane of all humanity."
The Alpine Blast fared better.
Vivek Kurisunkal, New Delhi, India,
senior, and Erika Ratzlaff, Buhler junior,
began their testing at Tad's Tropical
Sno. 939 Iowa St.
"A quality refreshment," Breeding said. "Flavor is orange but not quite acidic like orange soda — more creamy."
"You can call me an ice connoisseur." Ratzlaff said, "At the state fair, I would ask for just ice. Snow cone ice is the best kind of ice."
"In India we have sticks of flavored ice, but it's nothing like a popsicle," he said. "I didn't understand the concept of snow cones at first. I think there's a lot of svrpun."
Kurisunkal claimed to have sampled no American frozen desserts aside from an isolated snow cone encounter in the Fall of 1999.
Ratzlaff liked her frozen treat. "The consistency of the ice is really nice, but it melts fast," she said of her Sucker Punch. "It's kind of tart; I like it."
Ratzlaff had more fun pouring her cherry Icee at the next stop than she did drinking it.
"The whole ordeal of putting it in there is fun," she said. "I don't think I ever finished one. You get really pumped up when you're about to get one, but then you never get through it. At least I don't."
Breeding said that snow cones could be distracting in some instances.
"Probably too much to handle while driving." he said.
Benji King, Overland Park senior and
With flavor quality determined, brain freeze testing was initiated. Kurisunkal slurped for eleven seconds before pulling away, nearly eclipsing Breedig's twelve seconds set earlier that afternoon. Ratzlaff slurped for four.
"I got a little bit of a headache, but I don't think I got the full glory," she said. "Stay away from Polar Joe."
"When I got them, the little bear was part of the attraction," King said. "The novelty aspect of it isn't the same when you're older."
Kwik Shop employee, said Icees were one of the most popular things he sold.
"It pinches your brain," he said, wincing. "My jaw hurts, my head hurts. It's like a bad hangover. It suckes."
Kurisunkai stood by the side of the building with his head in his hands, trying to shake the lingering pain.
PHOTO BY BRAD DRIER/KANSAN
Kurisunkal was less partial to his Ice.
"I liked the other one much better," Kurisunkal said. "This didn't have too many flavors. Secondly, I thought it was very runny and more liquid."
After discovering Juice Stop was closed, Ratzlaff proposed making her own smoothies. A blended banana, cup of milk and 16 ounces of yogurt later, the deed was done.
"It's not gourmet, and I don't think I'd pick up guys if I was drinking it," Ratzlaff said. "It's like strawberry-flavored dentists' toothpaste."
"They're super healthy, a lot cheaper, and it's convenient because it's right at home," she said. "If you didn't wash the dishes, make smoothies and your house likes you again."
Things went downhill later for the testers. They thought Polar Joe's claim to be the "smoothest, coolest frozen gourmet drink ever" turned out to be a false promise at the Jayhawk Food Mart, 1414 W.6th St.
Vivek Kurisunkal, New Delhi, India, senior, receives a snowcone from an employee at Tad's Tropical Sno, 939 Iowa St., Tuesday after class.
Breeding agreed with her fellow tester. "Smoothies are head and shoulders above the rest of the field," he said. "It's like a meal."
Ratzlaff encouraged trying different kinds of fruit with homemade smoothies. She said the trips to get gas station refreshments also had a redeeming quality.
Wetzel can be reached at 864-4810 or writer@kansan.com
"I think an occasional visit to get a Slurpee or Icee retains your innocence because it's such a fun and wholesome thing to do," she said.
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