When you are looking for an easy way to cool off, you may enjoy having a slushy or a Slurpee. We often interchange their names, but are they both really the same thing? Both icy treats can be purchased from convenience stores and both promise to be tasty, but they are slightly different from one another. Do you know the major differences? We didn’t, so we decided to delve a little deeper into it. What we found was a little interesting to us.
The Basics: How Slushies and Slurpees Are the Same
Both of these iced treats are made with, of course, ICE and a sugary beverage type. Most often, they are made with syrups or soda flavoring, but the ice can be mixed with anything that has sugar content in it. However, these drinks do have a variety of differences. One of the biggest is the way you feel about them when you sample their tasty goodness, or, at least, your personal preferences.
Slushie Vs Slurpee: What’s the Difference?
The names of these two drinks are their first difference, as is the reason behind their names. A slurping (slurpy) sound is often made by a person who is drinking a “Slurpee” through their straw. A slushie or slushy is typically icier and therefore most often enjoyed with a spoon. The “slush” is merely a reference to the ice crystals and chunks that may be inside it.
Another thing you will find is that “slushie” is more of a generic term for beverages that are made with sugar and water. The slushing machine stirs or rotates the syrup at a consistent speed using an auger. As it begins to “ice” the ice will group together before freezing too hard.
The Slurpee is more of a brand-name drink. It is sold and trademarked at 7-Eleven stores, meaning that it isn’t sold in other areas, but it is made using a machine that mixes to keep ice crystals that is more liquid than ice. Another name for Slurpee is, “ICEE”, though the two products are not the same.
ICEE is the original and it was invented by Omar Knedlik after a fluke caused him to put sodas in the freezer at his diner. People loved it. He patented it. Slurpees came along soon after. Today, you may be more inclined to call it “fluffy” than ICEE. This is mostly because it will often have a mixture of syrup, water, and CO2 mixed in.
As a pretty interesting side note and perhaps a little trivia for your friends and family: Knedlik also owned a Dairy Queen outpost that was located in Coffeyville, Kansas. His earliest version of the ICEE machine was made up of used car parts that were designed to work as air conditioning parts in 1958.
You must also consider that Slushies are very similar to shaved ice. Again, the two are similar in texture, but also quite different. Shaved ice is going to be enjoyed with a spoon, but instead of being mixed with syrup in a machine, it will be shaved, and syrup will be poured over it.
How to Make Slushies and Slurpees?
You can easily make a slushie with a machine or a blender. You should use a high-powered blender to crush your ice, then add some syrup, juice, or soda to the blended ice. We recommend you use sugary syrups or drinks because they will be easier to freeze and stay cold longer. By blending it, you will have ice chunks that will be best if consumed while you are using a spoon.
To make an ICEE-type drink, you can use a machine and sugary beverages. The sugars will freeze into a good consistency for you to drink through a straw.
Both drinks can be enjoyed within only a few minutes, but slushies with a slushie maker will generally take a little longer to create. There are some slushie makers that use ice and table salt in one canister and your syrup or flavoring in another. The flavor will mix and crystalize in about 15-minutes for home slushie makers.
What Flavors are Best?
Both Slurpees and Slushies are great when made with a variety of different flavors and flavor combinations. Basically, any type of fruit juice will work, as well as syrup and soda flavors. If you aren’t a fan of the syrups that are available, Fanta can also make a great option since they are very sweet, slightly carbonated, and for most people, delicious to drink. There are also about 90 different Fanta flavors available.
One thing that many people enjoy is also experimenting with alcohol mixed into their adult slushie drinks. Some fun recommendations for this are to mix vodka and Fanta’s Blue Raspberry, Tequila, and Watermelon-lime or Summer Time Lime. Whipped Cream Vodka and Fanta Orange is also a fun flavor combination that tastes like a creamsicle.
