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Last weekend, Reese Witherspoon inadvertently caused a bit of a stir when she posted a TikTok of herself making a snowy drink out of snow, cold brew, caramel, and chocolate syrup that she dubbed a “salted snowy cappuccino.” People quickly started blowing up the comments, saying that eating snow was “dirty.” It was a silly, unnecessary controversy, but Reese leaned in and made several response videos anyway. Turns out that Reese isn’t the only celeb who likes eating snow, though. On the Today show, hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager decided to chime in, lending their support to #TeamReese. Both Hoda and Jenna were bewildered at the whole debate and shared their own personal experiences with making snowy concoctions. As long as it wasn’t yellow, it was good enough for Jenna and Hoda.
“This is a whole thing, and we don’t understand it, but it’s a thing,” Hoda began. “So then the internet was mad because don’t eat snow? Because it must fall through pollution? I don’t know.”
“We’ve been eating snow, and we would eat it like three days later, too,” Jenna added. “We tried to make sure it wasn’t yellow. But if it was white, we were going for it!”
That wasn’t all Hoda and Jenna had to say about Reese’s latest concoction. As the two further explained, they make something very similar… and there’s a family connection to it too.
“Here’s what we did — and you, I think, introduced me to this concept,” Hoda continued. “When the snow falls, we get cups, we fill it up. We take half-and-half or heavy cream, we add some sugar or sweetener, mix it up and it’s called snow ice cream.”
“Yes! That was what my mom did when it snowed once a year in Texas,” Jenna concluded. “That was her recipe that we passed down!”
Upon hearing Hoda and Jenna were all for Reese making more “snow salt Chococcinos,” fans went to social media to voice their agreement on the concept.
“I still eat freshly fallen snow I have done it since I was a kid,” one person wrote on Instagram. “Snow cream is the best. Made it for my kids and the whole neighborhood every year,” another agreed. “I’m with Reese!! Yum! ❤️,” a different follower added.
Nonetheless, there were still some concerned about eating freshly fallen snow off the ground. “Snow is filthy please don’t do this,” one person begged. “Disgusting… all the chemicals and exhaust fumes on [your] car 😂😂,” another replied. “Nope,” a different fan simply remarked.
For the record, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent says to avoid eating snow if you’re stranded somewhere because it can lower your body temperature, but doesn’t mention any other snow eating guidelines. That being said, if you’re going to eat it, clean snow is the only option. And only in moderation.
Even though there were still some naysayers, Today’s viewers seem way more chill than Reese’s TikTok followers. But I think it’s kinda crazy just how polarizing this topic is! Is this the January 2024 version of the Great Celebrity Shower Debate?! Like I said the other day, eating snow is not a hill I’m willing to die on but as long as you’re eating fresh, white snow, I really don’t think it’s a big deal. Does it fall through the dirty atmosphere? Sure, but almost nothing we ingest is completely clean and we do those things anyway. Some of the recommendations out there include putting a bowl out to catch the snow you want to use for snow cream, etc. That makes a lot of sense to me. Anyway, I totally tasted snow as a kid, but we never made cool things out of it, so it never became any sort of tradition for me. I sorta feel left out now. I cannot believe this, but I’m totally about to do a Pinterest search for the best snow recipes.
Photos credit Getty and via Instagram and TikTok
