Piragua

Piragua is a Puerto Rican dessert consisting of shaved ice that is shaped into a pyramid, then covered with fruit-flavored syrup. It is typically sold from brightly colored carts by piragüeros – snow cone makers. The name piragua means canoe in Taino language, although no one is quite sure how that word is connected to this colorful sweet treat. The syrups used for piraguas vary in flavor – from lemon, grape, and strawberry to the more exotic mango, pineapple, and coconut.