On June 20th each year, National Vanilla Milkshake Day celebrates the cold beverage made with vanilla ice cream, vanilla syrup and milk.
- In 1885, the term “milkshake” showed up in print for the first time. The concoction of cream, eggs, and whiskey was often served with other alcoholic tonics.
- By 1900, a milkshake often referred to “wholesome drinks”made with chocolate, strawberry or vanilla syrups.”
- In these frothy beverages, ice cream was nowhere to be found. However, a few years later in the early 1900s, people began asking for this new treat with a scoop of ice cream.
- By the 1930s, malt shops were serving milkshakes all over the United States.
- ‘Shakes’ got their name from being served in bars. If the customer enjoyed the specialty drink, he shook hands with the bartender. If not, the bartender wouldn’t get a tip.
- The first diner milkshakes were made with a mixture of milk, malt and flavoring (vanilla, chocolate, etc.). The malt added an ‘ice cream’ texture to the drink.
- Steven Poplawski invented the electric blender in 1922 just for milkshakes. Before that, the effort of shaking them up must have required a lot of upper-body motion.
- In parts of New England, a milkshake is often referred to as a “frappe” (the “e” is silent)
- The milkshakes in Rhode Island are thought to be called “cabinets” because people use to keep their blenders in a small, wooden cabinet. Rhode Island’s “cabinets” are not like the typical milkshake either; they do not contain ice cream. A “cabinet” is just milk and flavoring mixed together.
- Dairy Queen introduced milkshakes in 1949.
- Fast-food restaurants like to make up their own names for milkshakes. McDonald’s is famous for its McFlurries. McFlurries come in a variety of flavors, the most popular being Oreo, M&M, and Butterfinger. McFlurries were invented in October 1997.
- Another new name for milkshakes comes from the notorious fast-food chain Wendy’s. Wendy’s calls their milkshakes Frostys. Frostys were invented in 1969 and were one of Wendy’s first dessert items on the menu. Wendy’s sells over 300 million Frostys a year.
- According to The Guinness Book of World Records, in 2000 Ira Freehof made the world’s largest milkshake. At 6,000 gallons it was the equivalent of 50,000 normal-sized shakes.
- Malted milk powder was invented in 1897 by James and William Horlick, but it was Ivar Coulson, a soda jerk for a Walgreens drug store, who first added it to milkshakes in 1922. This created the malted milkshake or just plain “malt.”
- A surefire cure for hangovers is to drink a banana milkshake sweetened with honey. It helps soothe your stomach, plus it builds up depleted blood sugar levels and electrolytes such as magnesium and potassium.
- It’d take 3,200,000 average-sized milkshakes to fill up an Olympic-sized pool.
- Milkshakes were a popular food of the extras dressed in ape costumes during the filming of the original PLANET OF THE APES movie. Their masks didn’t allow them to eat a regular meal, but they could place a straw in their mouths.
- The milkshake made it into the mainstream when in 1922 a Walgreens employee in Chicago, Ivar “Pop” Coulson, took an old-fashioned malted milk (milk, chocolate, and malt) and added two scoops of ice cream, creating a drink that became popular at a surprising rate, soon becoming a high-demand drink for young adults around the country.
- By the 1950s, popular places to drink milkshakes were Woolworth’s “5 & 10” lunch counters, diners, burger joints, and drugstore soda fountains. These establishments often prominently displayed a shining chrome or stainless steel milkshake mixing machine.
- The Comfort Diners, Parmalat USA, and the American Dairy Association made the world’s largest milkshake with a volume of 22,712.47 liters (6,000 US gal.) equivalent of 50,000 normal-sized shakes! The record-breaking milkshake was made in New York, USA on 1 August 2000 to mark The Comfort Diners’ Fourth Annual August Milkshake Celebration.
- In 1963 the CIA unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Fidel Castro with a poisoned chocolate milkshake.
- Nestlé invented the first chocolate-flavored powdered milkshake mix in the USA in 1948. It was marketed under the name of Nestlé Quik.
- If you drink too much alcohol one night, a milkshake could get you back on your feet. A banana milkshake mixed with a little honey is the perfect cure for a hangover.
- Joseph Friedman invented the flexible straw after watching his daughter struggle with her milkshake in his brother’s fountain shop. His invention was patented on September 28, 1937.
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