THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM

by: Al Reynolds

Ice Cream was an imported idea, which dates back to Nero-Claudius Caesar. It was made with snow that was brought to him by runners from the Alps, to which was added fruit juices, honey and nuts.

For the next thousand years there is no recorded mention of anything suggesting ice cream. At the end of the 13 th century, Marco Polo returned from the Far East with a recipe for a frozen dessert that some say was revealed to him by the Chinese who had been making it for 3,000 years.

Exactly when ice cream arrived in America is not known. The earliest historical evidence that ice cream was served in the colonies appears in a letter written in 1700 by a guest of Maryland’s Governor Bladen. He noted, “…we had a dessert no less curious; among the rarities of which it was composed, was some find ice cream which, with strawberries and milk, eat most deliciously.”

By the time of the Revolution, ice cream was a popular dish and was served in exclusive New York confectionery shops. Philip Lenzi is credited with placing the first published advertisement for the frozen treat. An announcement in the May 12, 1777 issue of the New York Gazette said that ice cream “may be had almost every day.”

The first ice cream street vendors were familiar figures on the streets of New York as early as 1828. The National Advertiser in Washington reported that a group of noisy fellows, with kettles in their hands, had added “I scream, ice cream” to the street cries of New York. Much of the ice cream was, in truth, ice milk, because of the difficulty of obtaining fresh cream.

Until 1846, the common way of making ice cream was by the “pot freezer” method. The mixture was beaten in a pot while the pot was shaken up and down in a pan of salt and ice. Usually, the “pan” was a wooden bucket and the mixture held in a metal container. This method became history when Nancy Johnson invented the hand cranked ice cream freezer in 1846. The device was a pioneering version of the popular freezer used today to make ice cream in the home. Her contribution was that the mixture was agitated by a dasher that was turned by cranking a handle. The same ice and salt principle was used.

By 1850, ice cream was well on its way to becoming a national institution. It was available in numerous ice cream shops throughout the United States, and the Johnson crank and dasher freezer brought it into every American home. It was only natural for an enterprising dairyman like Jacob Fussell to seize upon the idea of the commercial ice cream business as a way of utilizing surplus ice cream.

During the second half of the 19 th century, ice cream became the delight of masses of Americans, thanks to the development of the wholesale industry. Before the advent of the ice cream factory, the frozen treat was made primarily by confectioners and sold in their stores, in retail shops, restaurants, saloons and parlors.

A new breed of wholesalers soon overtook the old ice cream makers. By increasing output and by sharply lowering prices, they put ice cream within the economic reach of nearly everyone.

National ice cream production in 1859 was estimated at 4,000 gallons. Ten years later output had jumped to 24,000 gallons, and by 1899 it topped five million. Production would have been greater, but it was slowed down by the handcrank method of manufacture. When the brine freezer was introduced in 1902, ice cream men could turn out enough product to meet demand. Volume had reached 12,000,000 gallons by 1904, and more than doubled to 29,000,000 gallons by 1909.

While Jacob Fussell is the acknowledged “father’ of the ice cream industry, many other pioneers area credited with spreading the popularity of the frozen treat throughout the United States. One of these was James Horton. In 1874, Horton became full owner of Fussell’s original firm. The operation grew rapidly and by 1895, it employed 250 men and ran 250 wagons. The business continued until it became part of the Pioneer Ice Cream Division of Borden Company in 1928.

Horton was noted for many innovations, and it is said that his was the first American ice cream to go to foreign countries.

The creation of the ice cream cone in the early 1900s helped make ice cream an American favorite. Ernest A. Hamwi earned the reputation of father of the cone. At the St. Louis exposition of 1904, Hamwi had a concession where he made a water-like pastry baked on a waffle iron. Next to him was an ice cream vendor who ran out of dishes on which to serve ice cream. Hamwi rolled one of his waffles into the shape of a cone and put a scoop of ice cream inside. The ice cream vendor was intrigued with the idea and the “World’s Fair Cornucopia” was born.

As the brine freezer was the key instrument that increased ice cream output in the early 1900s, the cone was the main tool for increasing ice cream sales. Annual per capita consumption rose from about a quart in 1900 to about a gallon in 1915.

During the 1900s, ice cream cones became the favorite summertime treat and were the major attraction at such events as the Fourth of July celebration, the circus, and the country fair. No picnic or outdoor event would be complete without ice cream.

The New York Tribune of July 13, 1972 gave a glimpse into the growth of the ice cream business of that era. In no city are there so many chances to buy ice cream. In no city does it range so wide from the hokey-pokey of the pushcart to the royal and melting confections of Fifth Avenue. Ice Cream for the millions and ice cream for the millionaire, New York produces both in unrivalled quantity and quality.

The hokey-pokey man, or pushcart ice cream vendor, earned a wide, if infamous reputation. His product was made under the most unsanitary conditions, probably in some basement or wherever a simple ice and salt operation could be set up. He was always dodging the sanitation inspectors who not only labeled ice cream “cheap” but also charged that it was the source of many contagious diseases.

Hokey-pokey was not necessarily the disreputable product that the industry labeled it. In fact, the ice cream sold by those vendors who did business with established ice cream companies was respectable enough, even if it was made from a cheaper formula.

The soda fountain, introduced at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, had become an integral part of the ice cream business by 1900. These fountains were the center attraction of the soda water parlors and of ice cream departments of pharmacies and retail stores.

By the pre-World War I period, ice cream was recognized as a treat to be enjoyed by everyone. It had overcome its image of a decade earlier, that it was food for feminine indulgence, too weak and innocuous for man’s stomach. By 1910, however, it had again been recognized as a dessert fit for men and women.

Prohibition in many states was on the march by then and had a booming effect on ice cream sales. By 1910, ice cream was replacing beer sales and saloons were doing a big business selling it over the bar in hot weather. It was rightly predicted by industry leaders that in years to come there wouldn’t be a bar in the country that wouldn’t be serving ice cream to the hot and thirsty.

The end of World War I was followed by a mind depression and, then the nation roared into the twenties, one of the most fabulous eras in the history of ice cream.

The novelty revolution was launched by three great inventions: the “Eskimo Pie,” “Good Humor Bar,” and the “Popsicle,” all created between 1919 and 1924.

Christian Nelson, the son of an Iowa dairyman, started the avalanche with his “I-Scream-Bar,” later called the Eskimo Pie. Nelson ran an ice cream parlor in Onawa, Iowa. One spring day in 1919, a youngster came into his store and asked for an ice cream sandwich and candy bar. The boy had only a nickel and was torn between his two favorites.

The incident sparked Nelson’s idea of making a portable chocolate sundae something like a candy bar. After experimenting for several months he introduced his “Temptation I Scream Bar” at the Onawa Firemen’s Tournament where his entire stock of 500 bars was sold. It was also a bit hit at his ice cream store.

In 1910, Harry B. Burt, Sr., introduced the “Good Humor,” a candy sucker lollipop on a wooden stick. It was a popular item by the 1920s, when the Eskimo Pie appeared and Burt combined the two ideas.

Burt stumbled on the idea of putting the bar on a stick when his daughter complained that the Eskimo Pie “tastes wonderful but it’s too messy.” When frozen, the sticks adhered to the bars, and the first Good Humor Ice Cream Sucker was born.

The third member of the novelty trio that radically changed the character of the ice cream industry was a “drink on a stick,” the “Popsicle” treat. A flavored water ice, it competed with ice cream novelties as the “all-day sucker with a chill,” and added a new dimension to the concept of frozen desserts.

The mechanization of packaging led off the innovations of the 1920s. The first machines were able to package 20 quarts per minute or 1,200 quarts per hour, which was ten times faster than the manual method. The savings in time and manpower was enormous.

As far back at 1921, the future of packaged ice cream was obvious. It helped the dealer establish an accurate basis on which to anticipate profits and to help maintain the quality of the ice cream from factory to consumer’s table. Packaging assured the consumer that he would receive the ice cream in the sanitary condition in which it left the plant.

The great depression of the 1930s brought a sudden halt to the seemingly endless growth and prosperity of the ice cream industry. A more telling impact was dealt by the repeal of prohibition in 1933. In that year, ice cream production dropped to its lowest level since 1919.

It was during these hard times that the industry saw the launching of retail ice cream chains, outlets, and stores. These operations were profitable since they could offer their own manufactured ice cream in more variety, larger portions and cheaper prices.

During the late 1930s ice cream was riding its greatest boom ever, finding new outlets for the frozen treat, including airlines which were serving novelties and sandwiches as desserts.

In 1943, the U.S. Armed Forces became the world’s largest ice cream manufacturer with a specified program of equipment and ingredients supplied by the domestic industry. The project, planned and carried out by the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S Army, in effect created an entire industry – one big enough to supply the machinery and ingredients for making approximately 80,000,000 gallons of ice cream per year to be consumed by American fighting men the world over.

Ice Cream was so popular that in 1945 the U.S. Navy built, at a cost of one million dollars, a floating ice cream parlor. A concrete barge was outfitted to produce ten gallons of ice cream per second. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal gave the distribution of ice cream to ships and advance bases “highest priority” after he received a report from an assistant which emphasized that ice cream was more effective than beer in boosting morale.

By the 1950s products other than ice cream had come to play an important role in the frozen dessert industry. Ice milk, sherbert, water ice and mellorine were responsible for 80 percent of the rise in per capita consumption during that decade.

The big war-time gainers, water ice and milk sherbet, enjoyed moderate growth in peacetime America compared to a relative newcomer – ice milk. Ice milk volume grew quickly in the 1960s and by the early 1970s had reached over five quarts in annual per capita consumption.

The American public was enticed by hundreds of new ice cream flavors during the years following World War II. The flavor houses came up with hundreds of new ideas – some that became standard and others that would only briefly tickle American flavor buds.

In a survey published in 1975 by Dairy & Ice Cream Field, the Vanilla Information Bureau pointed out that despite the profusion of new flavors, America’s all time favorite was still old fashioned vanilla.

Novelty manufacturers were as imaginative as their predecessors of the 1920s and 1930s. The shapes of their products had taken on a space-age look with replicas of rockets and other

phenomena of the times that would entice youthful customers. Technically, the industry had come out with a variety of flavored and specialty coatings (such as cake) and also began to feature novel candy and fruit centers.

Although the ice cream industry has been relatively stable for the last decade, the premium segment has experienced strong growth.

Premium and gourmet ice cream has caught the fancy of the American public. Consumers believe that these ice creams taste better than supermarket style because they are made with higher quality ingredients, principally more butterfat, thus they are willing to pay more to enjoy the premium brands.

After remaining virtually flat from 1972 through 1980, the per capita consumption of ice cream rose 1.7 percent in 1982, and now equals 22 quarts per person. Americans have renewed their love affair with ice cream, especially the premium variety.

In 1983, interviews with some industry sources revealed that they believe more advertising support, with ads targeted to specific market segments, will be needed; that a rearrangement of retailers’ dairy cases is essential, with more space for high-profit novelties; and that a largely untapped market for frozen juice, fruit or pudding bars lies in the food-service industry from hospitals to schools to ball parks.

Lewis Paine, Director of Marketing for Carnation Dairies, says that in general, he sees the market shifting in favor of novelties, and from bulk ice cream, such as half-gallons, to pints. “Sales are going to the individual consumer, with all the premium categories doing well.”

A spokesman for one major national novelty supplier underscored the competition when he noted two things to keep in mind; first, that novelties are highly profitable and, second, that they are now a year-round business not just for summer.

Ice cream shops are exploring new concepts and marketing approaches as they take on competition from yogurt, Italian ice, or gelato chains.

No one in the industry is expecting either yogurt or gelato to replace ice cream. With the exception of a few who consider these new concepts merely fads, most anticipate that, with their health and entertainment aspects, both will carve out their own special niche in the market.

The bottom line in the ice cream/dessert concept market is that there is a great deal of room for expansion, diversification, and new entry into what is becoming a very quality-oriented market.