The “Apparatus for Baking Biscuit Cups for Ice Cream” Was Invented In 1901

From the dawn of time, everyone from philosophers to the man or woman on the street has scratched their confused heads over this mind-boggling question — how can you hold and eat ice cream in your hands without making a mess? This September 22, celebrate the long-awaited answer —  National Ice Cream Cone Day — by taking a bite into America’s favorite way to eat a cool, sweet treat!

• 7th Century – While an ice-cream-like food was recorded as having been eaten as far back as the 7th century AD, the cone didn’t appear until much later.
• 1825 – While some controversy exists as to who invented the ice cream cone, the earliest mention shows up in French cookbooks around 1825. Originally referred to as “little waffles,” the cones were waffles rolled into the shape of a cone.
• 1837 –  During the Victorian era, ice cream vendors sold a scoop of ice cream for a penny in a small stemmed glass with a conical top. Called a penny lick, they look a bit like a stemmed shot glass. The customer would lick the ice cream out of the glass and return it to the vendor.
• 1870s – An early type of ice cream that didn’t require a dish was the “hokey-pokey,” which was created by London street vendors in the 1870s. They were similar to Neopolitan ice, made from a blend of water and milk, and thickened with cornstarch and sugar. The concoction was then frozen and pressed into molds that could be sliced. The slices were then wrapped in white paper and sold by street vendors.
• 1896 – Many historians have attributed the invention of the ice cream cone to Italo Machioni. The cone was invented in New York City, and first produced in 1896, and Machioni received a US patent for his invention in 1903.
• 1901 – an Italian immigrant, Antonio Valvona, living in Manchester, England, filed a patent for an “Apparatus for Baking Biscuit Cups for Ice Cream.” It was to bake dough using the same ingredients as cookies but shaped to be able to be filled with ice cream.
• 1904 – A similar invention was credited to Ernest A. Hamwi, from Syria, who introduced his waffle pastry at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904
• 1906 – Stephen Sullivan of Sullivan, Missouri, was one of the first known independent operators in the ice cream cone business. In 1906, Sullivan served ice cream cones (or cornucopias, as they were still called) at the Modern Woodmen of America Frisco Log Rolling in Sullivan, Missouri.
• 1910 – Ernest A. Hamwi founded the Missouri Cone Company, later known as the Western Cone Company.
• 1912 –  In 1912, an inventor from Oregon obtained a patent for a machine to make them. He sold his company to Nabisco in 1928, and they still make ice cream cones today.
• 1918 – The Joy Ice Cream Cone Company, located in Hermitage, PA, was founded in 1918 and began to mass-produce baked ice cream cones to sell to restaurants, as well as the everyday consumer. The company produces over 2 billion ice cream cones (sugar, cake, and waffle cones) a year. It is said that the company is the largest ice cream cone maker in the world as of 2009.
• 1920s – In the 1920s, the cone business expanded. Cone production in 1924 reached a record 245 million. Slight changes in automatic machinery have led to the ice cream cone we know today. Now, millions of rolled cones are turned out on machines that are capable of producing about 150,000 cones every 24 hours.
• In the early days, ice cream cones were sometimes called “cornucopias”, due to their shape. Mr. Hamwi named his business, the Cornucopia Waffle Company!
• Ice cream cones come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors. Cake cones are baked in a mold and usually have a flat bottom. Pretzel cones, chocolate cones, chocolate dipped cones, and cookie cones all offer an edible vessel to eat our ice cream.
• Independent ice-cream providers such as Ben & Jerry’s make their own cones.

Sources:

National Today

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

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IDFA

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