(upbeat music) -
Host
Have you ever seen anything like these before? No? Well, neither had I. But I want to introduce you to these sweet, salty, wild concoctions known in the Rio Grande valley, as raspas. They're made of crushed ice, flavored syrup and are the treat you dreamed of as a kid and someone who you could call an expert in raspas is Ed Margo, owner of Margo's corner in Weslaco, Texas. Whoa, whoa! These are from me? Yes ma'am. Yay! I know that there's a raspa craze right here in the Rio Grande valley, right? It's almost like a staple. It's a necessity. You have to have it. Anywhere the sun is shining, where it's super hot, raspas are gonna exist. -
Host
These days raspas have taken social media by storm. But Ed's family has been in this business way before Instagram even existed. We're one of the oldest we're going on 36 years. My mom and my dad started off this little thing to sell barbacoa on Sundays, sell some tacos to make extra money. In a stand? Yes. It was really, really small. A little over 10 years ago. And me and my brother built this shop. And now we're in the point where we need a bigger boat. Why do you think that raspas became such a huge thing in the last couple of years? Is it, was it social media? Well, I think it started before that. -
Host
Yeah. Because you'd have things that you could only get in flea markets. And then the stands started to do the same thing. Like you didn't have to go all the way into the flea market. You could go to a stand. Now that stand had to be tested by your community. I think it'll always be one of those things. I think that's why it stays because it's still one of those down to earth things that you have. So we're going to do one that I like. What's the name? We call it horchata. The name is horchata, it's just like a drink, but this raspa has ice, the flavoring, and it has a homemade rice pudding. Oh, arroz con leche? It has arroz con leche. I want to see, I want to see. -
Ed
All right. This is what we call vanilla cream. It has a Mexican vanilla. Yeah. - Condensed milk. Yeah. - And simple syrup. -
Host
On top Ed adds his a homemade arroz con leche, some cinnamon and strawberries. -
Ed
And this is just pecans, coconut and almonds. -
Host
Let's do it! -
Ed
We call it Margo mix. So good, Eddy! Which are we doing now? We use a type of chamoy that is made for fruit, basically like chacan, which is a plum. Tamarind. -
Ed
Yeah, the tamarind. Oh, we got these things called sachaskettis. It's kind of hard to describe, but this tastes like watermelon. Eddy, this, yeah. I'm going to let you see something that originated in Weslaco and it's called a Piccadilly. It's shaved ice. You can pick usually the popular is cherry and grape and it comes with diced pickles. -
Host
Oh no. Pickles? These are like deli pickles? -
Ed
These are from Mansfield, Texas. And this is the pickles that we used to eat. Okay. With sandwiches? No, we put them in the freezer. Yeah. - Take them out. Get a packet of Kool-Aid, put a little salt, shake it up, eat it. - Oh! And you can do it with carrots and everything. (speaking in Spanish) -
Ed
This is Kool-Aid. I must confess. I'm always super eager to try everything. I'll do it first. I'm not that eager, but I'll do it, Eddy. You like sour food? I do. Then you're going to like it. This is really strange, Eddy. (both laughing) It's like incredibly refreshing, thirst quenching and it like hits you in all places. Cause it's sour, salty. It's sweet. Yeah, it's like the sour patch thing is. You can get as crazy as you like. You can get as many toppings as you like. There is no limit to your imagination. There's so much nostalgia that when you get that one snow cone from when you were five years old to now you're 35 years old. That is your snow cone. And it's our job to recreate that. If I were near a stand, I'd be here everyday. Because of the internet, we could probably send them to your house. You could? Yeah. And you're not going to break the bank with us but you will come back every day.
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