Frozen Treats

Italian Ice

Because Italian ice is made from water, not ice, in Philadelphia and some other regions of the country the product is known as “water ice”. Italian ice is made in an ice cream machine using water instead of cream. Other ingredients include real sugar — NOT corn syrup, natural and puree flavorings, real fruit, fruit juices and other natural and artificial flavors. To significantly reduce the amount of sugar being used, various types of stabilizers are used. Rosie’s has an extensive list of Italian ice flavors we make regularly.

A variation of Italian ice is cream ices which involve adding a small amount of cream to the recipe mixture of Italian ice.

Some popular flavors using this technique are vanilla chip, banana cream pie and birthday cake.

Italian ice is one very cool treat to refresh yourself on a hot day!

Radio Ball

What in the world is a radio ball???? Simply put, a radio ball is a layer of delicious Rosie’s Italian ice with a layer of ice cream, so you get the best of two different treats in one! In most cases it’s with soft ice cream, but you can also use hard ice cream when making a radio ball.

Where did it get its name???? There are a couple of different stories on where the word comes from. One is from a delicatessen in Philadelphia located in the Kensington and Allegheny area. This story is from a long time ago before every household had a TV. The delicatessen would mix balls of Italian ice and ice cream and people would sit in their cars listening to their radio while eating it. Thus, a radio ball!

Another story is also from long ago in Philadelphia. A man with a push cart sold Italian ice and ice cream up and down neighborhood streets. Customers would buy his combination of balls of Italian ice and ice cream and listen to the radio while enjoying it.

Some of our competitors call it a gelati. They replace the “o” in gelato with an “I”. This is confusing to customers who think they are ordering a gelato, which is a completely different product.

So we go with radio ball — a cool word to describe a very tasty treat!