The Famous Baltimore Treat That Actor Josh Charles Made For Jimmy Fallon
If you don't know too much about Charm City, least of all how it earns its nickname, there's a good chance that the only thing you think about when someone mentions Baltimore is crime. Or cake, maybe, if you're a big Duff Goldman fan. Non-Food Network viewers, however, are more likely to have seen the seamier side of Baltimore that shows such as "The Wire," "Homicide: Life on the Street," and, most recently, "We Own This City" are so fond of depicting.
With this last-named show, though, at least star Josh Charles is a Baltimore boy, and in a recent appearance to promote it on "The Tonight Show," he showed Jimmy Fallon that Maryland's largest city has its sweeter side. While pitching his TV show, Charles also shared one of B-more's iconic dishes – no, not an ice-cold Natty Boh, nor a crab cake (this is more of a Maryland-wide thing), nor even the sweet and sour Baltimore treat known as a lemon stick. Instead, he made a treat he described as "something uniquely Baltimore ... a snowball."
Fallon's now a fan of Charm City snowballs
The Baltimore-style snowball isn't a squishy pink marshmallow-coated cake. Instead, it's one of the numerous types of sweetened flavored ices that have been melting all over kids' hands for countless generations. In fact, the snowball itself is said to date back to the 19th century. So what makes it different from a snow cone? For one thing, it's made of shaved, not crushed, ice. Oh, so it's like a Hawaiian shaved ice, then? Well, kind of, except that Baltimore runs more to flavors like chocolate syrup, marshmallow, or the vanilla-flavored egg custard rather than passionfruit and guava. What's more, snow cones are served in paper cones and Hawaiian-style shave ice in a bowl. The classic B-more snowball, however, comes in a cup tall enough to hold a sizeable amount and is accompanied by a spoon long enough to reach right down to the bottom.
Josh Charles is the proud possessor of his own snowball maker, the Little Snowie Max, which is actually made in Utah. Still, it's about the best you can do for DIY snowballs since Koldkiss, the Baltimore-based snowball machine manufacturer, sticks to commercial-sized appliances. Charles also uses syrups from Baltimore's own Kavern - Fallon wanted the cherry flavor on his snowball, but his guest arm-twisted him into trying egg custard. The "Tonight Show" talker apparently didn't regret his choice, though. His verdict after the first bite: "That's the best ... it's like a cream soda, I love this."