The Ice Cream Cone

Do you enjoy eating ice cream on a hot summer day? What is your favorite kind of ice cream? For more than 100 years, Americans have been enjoying ice cream in a cone. Whether it’s a waffle cone, a sugar cone or a wafer cone, what better way to enjoy a double scoop of your favorite flavor. The first ice cream cone was made in 1896 by Italo Marchiony. Marchiony invented his ice cream cone in New York City. Although Marchiony is credited with the invention of the cone, the waffle cone was made by Ernest A. Hamwi with the help of an ice cream vendor at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Stephen Sullivan from Missouri, served ice cream cones (or cornucopias, as they were still called then) at the Modern Woodmen of America Frisco Log Rolling in Sullivan, Missouri. As the modern ice cream cone developed, two distinct types of cones emerged. The rolled cone was a waffle, baked in a round shape and rolled as soon as it came off the grill. In a few seconds, it hardened in the form of a crisp cone. The second type of cone was molded either by pouring batter into a shell, inserting a core on which the cone was baked, and then removing the core; or pouring the batter into a mold, baking it and then splitting the mold so the cone could be removed with little difficulty. 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. So, enjoy one of millions of cones eaten every day.

Rick