Bee Appetit: Beat the heat at with an icy treat from a water shop
It’s been delightfully temperate in the Sacramento region lately, but that’s about to change.
Triple-digit heat is on the horizon, and it’s important to stay hydrated. Many of the customers to Water & Salt on West Capitol Avenue aim to do just that, bringing in containers to fill up with various filtered and enhanced waters.
As for me, I’m usually in the line for shave ice.
Shave ice is the snow cone’s light-as-air cousin. It hails from Hawaii, and it’s an adaptation of the similar Japanese treat kakigōri.
Sacramento is blessed with several shave ice shops. There’s the neighborhood favorite Osaka-ya, Ululani Shave Ice, which recently opened in Old Sacramento, and Hānai Shave Ice & Island Grindz, which is currently doing a residency at Side Hustle in the Ice Blocks.
Large blocks of ice are actually the main ingredient of shave ice. At Water & Salt, that ice, made with alkaline water, is inserted into machines that use sharp blades to turn it into delicate snow. That fluffy powder is gently patted into cups and flavored with various syrups, such as lime or strawberry.
You can also go all-out and get your shave ice “Hawaiian-style” for an additional $4.89. That means adding condensed milk, mochi, and ice cream to the basic shave ice. The ice cream, of course, comes from Gunther’s.
My favorite shave ice flavor is the Hawaiian favorite known as tiger’s blood. No tigers or blood are involved, of course. Tiger’s blood is generally a strawberry, watermelon, and coconut-flavored syrup.
Usually, tiger’s blood is a bright, vivid red. Most shave ice syrups tend to be exuberantly, artificially colorful. Those are available at Water & Salt, but so are “natural” syrups, which are lighter on the food coloring.
So instead of my usually bright-red treat, I opted for a combo of passion fruit and natural tiger’s blood syrups. Along with a drizzle of condensed milk, my small shave ice came out to $6.70. My colleague Sean went with the natural lychee and passion fruit syrups for his small shave ice, which was $5.67.
The ice was fluffy, the syrups were lightly sweet without being overpowering, and opting for the natural syrups meant I did not have red-dyed teeth for the day.
The hint of coconut flavor in the tiger’s blood and the condensed milk made my shave ice slightly creamy while still remaining refreshing. And the ice itself was beyond light and airy.
There are plenty of outdoor tables at Water & Salt, some sheltered against the side of the building and several in the black-shaded seating area in the back. My recommendation is to dig in on the premises.
Water & Salt
Address: 1620 West Capitol Ave., West Sacramento
Hours: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. - 8 p.m. on Sunday
Phone: (916) 222-2301
Website: waternsalt.com
Vegetarian options: Yes
Noise level: Moderate
