By T. Scott Boatright
A taste from heaven is headed to Ruston.
The Ruston Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday night approved a conditional-use application for Heavenly Sno-Balls to operate a food truck on the vacant lot at the corner of Tech Drive and W. California Avenue.
It’s a conditional-use permit because the food truck will be required to be removed at the end of sno-ball season in October.
Owner Rajeeyah Moncrief lives in Texas now, but is a New Orleans and said the Ruston location will provide true Crescent City-style sno-balls as opposed to the standard snow cone usually found in north Louisiana.
The difference is all in the ice used to create the delicacies.
New Orleans-style sno-balls are made with finely-shaved ice. That helps the flavored syrup to be soaked up throughout the entire sno-ball.
The ice used to make snow cones is crushed, creating a crunchier ice, but snow cone ice is not as smooth as the shaved style ice, which melts in mouths with every bite taken from one.
Like traditional snow cones, sno-balls have many various flavorings and can also include condensed milk.
Sno-balls date back to 1933, when Ernest Hansen began work on an ice-shaving machine. By 1934, he had invented the first motor-driven ice-shaving machine, making sno-balls for family and friends. In 1936 Hansen and his wife Mary began operating Hansen’s Sno-Biz on the streets of New Orleans, creating a Big Easy tradition. They opened their first shop in 1939 and remained in business for 67 years.
Heavenly Sno-balls received approval from the Ruston Planning and Zoning Board with no opposition.