A slushy or slushie is a frozen beverage made with crushed ice and sweet ingredients such as fruit juices and syrups. In other words, it is a flavored frozen drink made with ice crystals that gives a refreshing taste. It comes in a variety of flavors and can either be carbonated or non-carbonated. Also, alcoholic slushies are quite common and widely used in pool parties.
Difference between Slushy and Other Frozen Drinks
A partially melted snow or ice is called slush, and that is the difference between slushies and other frozen drinks. The ice in a slushie never freezes; it remains in a tiny icy crystal form. You can both eat and drink slushy at the same time.
Ways of Making Slushies
Slush machines are widely used to make slushies of different flavors. You will find commercial slush machines at many corner shops, ice cream parlors, hotels, restaurants, and bars. Even ice cream vans carry slushy machines to offer customers a unique frozen beverage.
But what if you need to make slushies at home? The market is full of small size slush machines that you can use to make slushies at home. However, if you don’t want to buy a machine for this, there are other ways to make slushies at home. You can either use your freezer or a blender for this purpose. Also, an ice cream maker can help you out in making delicious homemade slushies.
Working Mechanism of a Slushy Machine
Commercial slush machines have freezing capabilities means they turn water into an icy slush. On the other hand, many home slushy machines don’t have the freezing option; and therefore, they need crushed ice to make slushies for you.
A slush machine starts working by freezing the water. A concentrated liquid in water circulates through the machine’s cooling system, passing via the condenser, expansion valves, compressor, and mixer to produce slush.
The machine is responsible for adding flavor and sugar into the water. The sugar doesn’t allow the water to turn into solid ice cubes. Therefore, the correct amount of sugar must be added. The machine keeps the ratio of the ingredients in check and mixes them smartly to produce slushies instead of ice cubes.
After adding sugar, flavor, and coloring, the solution reaches the evaporator or the mixer. The mixer has mixing blades that move both horizontally and vertically to break the water or slush molecules and prevent ice making. The constant movement of the blades keeps the mixture uniformly mixed and doesn’t allow the slush to turn solid.
Time Required to Make Slushies
Modern slushie machines take around 20 to 60 minutes to complete the whole process of making slush.
Top Slush Flavors
- Cherry limeade slush
- Real fruit strawberry slush
- Strawberry limeade slush
- Powerade mountain berry slush
- Cranberry slush
- Blue coconut slush
- Frozen peach tea slush
- Pineapple real fruit slush
- Green apple slush
- Orange slush
Effects of Drinking/Eating Slushies on Health
It is okay to beat the heat by drinking these frozen drinks but consuming them more often may lead to weight gain and cause other health issues.
On average, a person consumes about 20 teaspoons of sugar by drinking a full glass of slushie in a single sitting.
We all know that slush is a mixture of sugar and water, and about 12 to 22% sugar is added into the solution to prevent it from becoming freezing solid.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the daily consumption of added sugars for men should not exceed to 150 calories (9 teaspoons). For women, it should not be more than 100 calories (6 teaspoons).
But most of the slushies have a higher amount of sugar than the recommended limit, and that should be the area of concern for slushie drinkers.
Consumption of too much sugar can lead to weight gain, diabetes, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, heart diseases, kidney problems, and more. Therefore, it is suggested to limit the consumption of this frozen drink.
