When people describe summer in New Orleans, they often use words such as “steaming,” “humid” and “sultry.” Images of people sitting on their porches fanning themselves with Styrofoam-contained snowballs, grasped tightly in their sweaty hands, readily come to mind.

These snowballs (or snoballs), known throughout the city, are essential to the survival of any New Orleans summer.

Snowballs are a distinctly New Orleans creation. Snow cones, which can be found in many other cities across the country, are made with crushed ice and are typically much harder and more textured.

A snowball is composed of shaved ice, produced from an ice-shaving machine that requires a block of ice to be manually pushed through the machine where a blade trims the ice so that it actually resembles snow.

Each snowball stand has a different ice shaver and, therefore, a different texture to its snowballs.

When the ice is shaved, it’s placed into a cup where it’s then saturated in a saccharine-sweet syrup. For an additional few cents, toppings can be added, including cherries, ice cream or the ever-popular condensed milk.

Snowballs originated in the 1930s ,when Ernest Hansen and his wife Mary built the first ice-shaving machine. The machine had a lever that had to be pulled to push the ice into the spinning blade.

In 1934, they opened up a stand, Hansen’s Sno-Blitz, and snowballs quickly became a New Orleans institution.

Other stands sprang up around New Orleans, each with varied success depending on how fine their ice shavers divided the ice. The general rule seemed to be the finer the ice, the more successful the stand.

Unlike other New Orleans traditions, such as eating slices of watermelon on Lake Pontchartrain, snowballs remain insanely popular, particularly during the “snowball season” between May and October, when the weather becomes almost unbearable.

With the exception of only a few establishments, most snowball stands only operate during this time. So, as the wind picks up and the temperatures drop, the opportunity to sample these confections is limited until the weather becomes so intolerable in six months that you won’t be able to survive without one.

Snowball stands vary in taste, atmosphere, flavors and neighborhoods. You’re encouraged to frequent them all, to discover what you like and what you dislike until you get to the point that when you hear a tourist pine for a “snow cone,” you respond, “No, baby, it’s a snowball!”

Hansen’s Sno-Blitz

At 4801 Tchoupitoulas St., Hansen’s Sno-Blitz is arguably the best snowball stand in the city. The Hansen family has operated the stand since it first opened in 1934 and closed only for a few months following Hurricane Katrina.

The snowballs here are praised for their extraordinary fineness, which demands that the snowballs be made in stages so that the home-prepared syrup can penetrate all the way through the cup.

Sno-Blitz may be the oldest operating snowball stand in the U.S. and houses the original ice-shaving machine invented by Ernest Hansen. The design of the machine is a patented secret and is attributed to making snowballs so fine that they can be placed in a freezer without freezing solid.

Plum Street Snowball Stand

Plum Street Snowball Stand rivals Hansen’s as “the distinctive New Orleans snowball stand.” Often listed as one of the most famous, Plum Street is legendary to locals and tourists alike, with lines often stretching down the cracked pavement and around the corner. Despite its name, Plum Street Snowballs operates at 1300 Burdette St. on the corner of Burdette and Plum Streets.

Plum Street is set apart from its various competitors by its vast menu. Its list of flavors is longer than any other stand’s, as evidenced by the bottles of colored confectionary syrups lining the shelves behind the counter.

In addition to offering many flavors, Plum Street makes its own condensed milk. Each treat is served in a Chinese food takeout carton, which can be a little messy.

Tee-Eva’s Creole Soul Food

Don’t let the name deceive you; Tee-Eva’s boasts more than just jambalaya and seafood gumbo. Tee-Eva herself also serves pies, pralines and snowballs to anyone looking to satisfy their sweet tooth Uptown at 4430 Magazine St.

What looks like a tiny shed stuffed on a residential street, Tee-Eva’s looks are deceptive, because behind the take-out window hides some of the most renowned traditional New Orleans fares in the entire city.

If you visit between the hours of 12 p.m. and 5 p.m., chances are you’ll be waited on by none other than the Tee-Eva who serves extra-large snowballs for just $2.20. She offers 25 traditional flavors that can be mixed with one another for an additional 25 cents. Nothing stands up to the Creole cream cheese flavor, and unlike many other snowball stands, Tee-Eva’s acknowledges no “snowball season” and is open all year.

Sal’s Snowballs

For suburbanites, Sal’sstill dominates the snowball world. At 1823 Metairie Road, customers flock to this tiny snowball shack sitting in the parking lot of Metairie Bank.

While snowball stands have popped up across Metairie over the past several decades, if you ask, Sal’s is still the place to go after 50 years.

Sal’s patrons like their snowballs super sweet, and they aren’t recommended for the diabetic crowd.

Unlike the other featured snowball stands, Sal’s confections resemble snow cones more than snowballs. The ice isn’t ground as fine and contains chunks of ice.

The Sugar Shack

If you are willing to venture “downdaroad” into St. Bernard Parish, the Sugar Shack on Judge Perez Drive in Meraux offers snowball aficionados what they’re looking for.

While the surrounding neighborhood remains destroyed, business is booming at the tiny wooden shack with a line stretching down the highway and past an adjacent field.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Sugar Shack’s business was constantly flourishing, as it was situated in a neighborhood occupied by families and a popular baseball field. The business now seems to be rivaling pre-Katrina levels as countless Chalmations and Lower 9ers are seen waiting not too patiently for their snowballs.

The Sugar Shack boasts a variety of original flavors, including Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles and the to-die-for Silver Fox.

Justin Templet can be reached at [email protected].