Fine-grained Italian-style flavoured ice, sold from corner stores and stands across the city from April through September. Lemon, cherry, mango, blue raspberry.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Water ice, called wooder ice in the local accent, is Philadelphia's signature warm-weather sweet. Italian immigrants brought granita to the city in the late 19th century; the South Philly version was refined to a smoother, finer-grained texture using shaved (rather than crushed) ice, sugar syrup and fruit. Rita's Italian Ice opened in 1984 in Bensalem and grew the format into a regional chain, but the canonical reference is Pop's Homemade Italian Ice on Oregon Avenue, run by the Pop Italiano family since 1932. Lemon is the founding flavour. Stands open on the first warm day in April and close after Labor Day.
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Tip from the editors. Scrape often. Water ice should be granular, not solid. Bring it out 10 minutes before serving if it freezes through.
South 9th Street Italian Market in Philadelphia is the open-air immigrant produce-and-deli strip on 9th from Fitzwater to Wharton, the oldest working outdoor.
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