Cafe’s “sustainable” summer delights include boozy sudachi gin, gazpacho tomato shaved ice

Sustainable shaved ice at haishop café

Innovation Design Inc., a Japanese company focused on solving social issues through its business ventures, will introduce a new lineup of additive-free shaved ice dishes at its "haishop café" in Yokohama.

With consideration for the procurement process, environmental impact and social good, these desserts not only make use of ingredients obtained through fair trade, but they also aim to reduce food waste by using ingredients that were, for whatever reason, unable to reach consumers.

The shaved ice syrups are all original and handmade by the chef using fair trade sugar and seasonal fruits, so they're both healthy and earth-friendly.

In addition to the standard strawberry shaved ice served with condensed milk (made from soy milk) and more unusual flavors like pineapple ginger, haishop café also offers shaved ice with alcohol for adults to enjoy.

Imperfect produce makes for perfectly delicious shaved ice

haishop café is particularly proud of these two flavors they'd like you to try, both of them using slightly blemished but perfectly delicious produce which would otherwise be discarded. In so doing, they're contributing to the reduction of food waste.

Gazpacho-style shaved ice made with imperfect tomatoes

Depending on how they are raised, tomatoes can grow large, but they also tend to be damaged by being on the ground or rubbing against neighboring fruits, which makes them unmarketable. The idea for this shaved ice came about when the chef talked to a farmer who was having trouble finding a market for his blemished tomatoes. This gazpacho-style shaved ice is made by freezing fresh tomatoes and then adding a garnish of fresh tomatoes on top.

Boozy sudachi gin shaved ice for the grownups

At the vegetable wholesalers, if a vegetable or fruit is even slightly bruised, it usually cannot be sold to restaurants and ends up discarded. However, the inside is perfectly fine, so this produce can be used in cooking. For this shaved ice, the chef made syrup from a batch of slightly blemished sudachi citrus that a wholesaler would otherwise have discarded.

It comes with a glass of gin to drizzle over it, for a refreshing and boozy summer dessert or you can have it without gin if you prefer to keep your shaved ice liquor-free.

Other offerings

Organic matcha shaved ice

Made from matcha green tea grown organically in Shizuoka, the matcha syrup is healthy and environmentally friendly. It is served with anko (sweet red bean paste) and shiratama (white bean paste).

Shaved ice with coffee jelly

Both the syrup and the jelly in this shaved ice is made from fair-trade coffee. The bittersweet flavor of the coffee makes it a very tasty shaved ice for adults.