September 22nd is National Ice Cream Cone Day!

Despite the official end of summer, National Ice Cream Cone Day continues celebrating on September 22nd!  This national foodie day brings attention to the amazing ice cream cone; an important yet, sadly, often overlooked invention that allows people to enjoy their scoops of delicious ice cream combined with a handily portable and edible wafer cone, often whilst out and about.

All it takes to really appreciate this day is to just begin by imagining what the world would be like without the equally useful and also delectable ice cream cone. A scoop of ice cream would have to be eaten with a bowl–and popsicles would probably dominate in the world of on-the-go frozen treats! But since the world does have ice cream cones, now there’s no need for a paper cup or plastic spoon when eating a cone, there’s less waste, making the ice cream cone a great contributor in helping to save the environment and reduce waste. This is certainly a delicious way to do something small to help save the earth!

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. Inextricably linked to the history of its partner, ice cream, the ice cream cone was created in the way of many other new fangled ideas–out of ‘necessity’. While an ice-cream-like food was recorded as having been eaten as far back as the 7th century AD, the cone didn’t make its appearance until much later on.

Many historians have attributed the invention of the ice cream cone to Italo Machioni, an Italian immigrant who had moved to the United States in the late 1800s. The cone was invented in New York City, first produced in 1896, and Machioni received a US patent for his invention in 1903. However, 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. Though it was only meant to be sold as a pastry, when the ice cream shop next door ran out of dishes, Mr. Hamwi jumped in and offered some assistance. By rolling one of his wafer pastries into a cone, he was able to solve his neighboring business owner’s problem AND contribute to something that would eventually become an American icon.

Confectioners turned the first cones by hand. 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. In the early days, ice cream cones were sometimes called “cornucopias”, due to the shape. In fact, Mr. Hamwi named his business, the Cornucopia Waffle Company!

But however it started, the fact is that the ice cream cone is still one of the most popular sweet treats around today, for “kids” of all ages.  So on this National Ice Cream Cone Day, go out and get yourself one!

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