- Haven't you always wanted to know where these stick desserts began?
Do you know the history of dessert on a stick? There are two main guys and it’s a whole story.
In the winter of 1905 in San Fran, Frank Epperson was drinking a powdered
fruit drink when he accidently left it on the porch. This accident will forever change Epperson’s life.
He eventually creates the popsicle, which becomes a $4.6 billion dollar empire.
It becomes the Popsicle King vs the Good Humor man and changes the way ice cream is made and sold. By the 1920s the world has emerged from WWI and after rationing, Americans were ready to get out and spend.
Americans were living out loud with jazz, amusement parks and disposable income. There were sweets dominating the market like Hershey Bars and 3 Musketeers. But ice cream was lagging behind and there was no dessert on a stick yet.
Ice and snow were used since Ancient Greece in the 1850s. Ice cream comes out in the early 1920s but was made with dangerous additives to reduce cost. The ice cream was “on the go penny licks.” You’d get a little glass cup of ice cream, lick it out of the cup and give the glass cup back. Did you know this is the first of the “desserts on a stick.”
It would just be wiped out with a dishrag and then used to serve more people.
Yuck. Dessert on a stick was much needed it seems.
A candy shop owner from Ohio named Harry Burt had an ice cream parlor that was very clean. His innovations eventually create a $4 billion dollar industry, changing how Americans eat food, from ice cream to tacos.
Burt was always trying to come up with new ideas.
He knew that there was a way to make it different, better and more accessible. He wanted to make ice cream dessert on a stick that was flavorful, fresh and safe, in individually packaged portions.
Frist Burt created a candy lollipop coated in chocolate. He though, if he used that same chocolate to cover ice cream it would create a thin, hard shell. He has his kids taste test it and although they loved it, it was really messy. And Burt knew it was too messy to be seen as sanitary.
He takes the lollipop stick and puts it into his ice cream. It was 1921 when the
first ice cream bar was created, officially dessert on a stick was born. But he needed a name.
It had been years since the popsicle invention and the boy who created it was now a married adult with kids. No home freezers yet, Epperson is working at a real estate firm.
He grew up around sales and in his family retail store, a ceramic shop. He wanted a lot from his life and he has an entrepreneurial mindset.
During the winter, he makes his frozen treat for his family. His daughter asks for a different flavor. And the eppsicle, turns from eppsicle to pop’s icicle as the treat was given to the kiddos by their pop, and eventually is called the popsicle.
His wife suggested that he bring his popsicle to the market. He wasn’t happy at work and he just had to make his idea work without freezers at home at the time. He wanted to bring dessert on a stick to the people.
He needed to make and sell his treats year around. And without freezing technology, ice wasn’t made at the time, it was harvested.
Ice was stored and sold during the summer in the old days. In 1853, the first commercial ice maker was invented and ice plants produced 300 pound blocks that were broken up and delivered to customers.
Epperson needed the invention and also the technology.
In 1922, after WWII Americans have more money but only 1/3 of the homes in the 20s had electricity. At the end of the 20s, that number had doubled. But there was no refrigeration and no freezers in homes at the time.
Frank creates a box but he needs it to be colder faster than the current
technology can, so he surrounds the test tubes with ice and salt in his box. And it worked.
Epperson could now make his popsicles all year long but he made a product for people that didn’t have freezers.
At the same time, Harry Burt was ready to share his “Good Humor” bar. He thought, “If something tasted good, it would put you in a good mood.”
“Why didn’t you make this sooner?” The public loved it. Want to hear the rest? Watch for The History of Dessert on a Stick And Where They Came From: Part Two.