Meaning
A cooling street treat of finely shaved ice packed into a cup or a ball and drenched in bright, sweet flavoured syrup — sometimes topped with a drizzle of condensed milk. Sold from handcarts, especially on blazing hot days, the snowball is a beloved Jamaican refreshment, the ice scraped fresh from the block by the snowball man and dressed with a rainbow of syrups to order. Cheap, cold, and sweet, it is one of the classic pleasures of a hot afternoon, a whole childhood in a cup of coloured ice.
Examples
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Buy a snowball from di cart fi cool dung.
Buy a snowball from the cart to cool down.
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Di snowball man shave di ice an pour on di syrup.
The snowball man shaves the ice and pours on the syrup.
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Strawberry snowball wid condensed milk a di best.
Strawberry snowball with condensed milk is the best.
Origin
Named for the ball of shaved ice; a Caribbean version of shaved-ice treats sold by street vendors.
How it’s used
A classic hot-weather street treat; the syrup-soaked shaved ice, not the frozen 'sky juice' in a bag.