New Orleans, LASnoballs

Ernest Hansen patented one of the first electric ice-shaving machines in 1934 and opened this Tchoupitoulas Street shop with his wife Mary in 1939. Their granddaughter Ashley Hansen runs it now and makes the family syrups, which the James Beard Foundation lists as blueberry, satsuma, root beer and cream of nectar; the Foundation gave the stand an America's Classics award in 2014. The doors open only for the warm months. Order the tart lemon without condensed milk, or chocolate with it.

A Burdette Street window in Carrollton that New Orleans Magazine's editors return to across the summer. Their orders run from nectar or chocolate with condensed milk to sugar-free pink lemonade, and one editor makes the case for a fresh lemon or satsuma snoball gone light on the syrup, closer to a frozen lemonade on the hottest days. Order nectar with condensed milk, or lemon if you want it sharper.

A West Esplanade Avenue stand in Metairie, and one of four spots New Orleans Magazine's editors and Renaissance Publishing staff named when the heat picked up in May. The order the magazine's production designer gives is the Nectar Cream, nectar syrup finished with cream, so start there. Snoball stands here keep a warm-weather season rather than a year, so check the stand before a late-autumn trip.

A Metairie Avenue stand that New Orleans Magazine's digital editor and a colleague both named among their regular stops. Order it half cafe au lait and half chocolate, and ask for it stuffed with vanilla soft serve if you want the fuller version, or take the chocolate with condensed milk on its own. Like the rest of the city's stands it runs on a warm-weather season.