In Honor of the Ice Cream Cone

On September 22nd. we will observe National Ice Cream Cone Day.  How and when this celebration originated has yet to be determined.  The ice cream cone, also known as a "poke" in Ireland and Scotland and a "cornet" to the British, is a dry cone-shaped pastry usually made of a wafer similar to a waffle.  Various types of cones include the wafer or cake, waffle, and my favorite, the sugar cone.  There are pretzel cones and chocolate-coated cones.  Double wafer cones allow you to have 2 scoops of ice cream side by side.  Some wafer cones are made with a flat bottom allowing the cone and ice cream to stand upright.  These cones were often called "cups".

Edible cones were mentioned as early as 1825 in French cooking books.  Cones were patented by two Italian entrepreneurs.  In 1902 Antonio Valvona, an ice cream merchant from Manchester, UK,  patented a biscuit cup producing machine.  In 1903 an Italian ice cream salesman named Italo Marchioni patented a machine which made "ice cream containers".

In 1904 at the St. Louis World's Fare,  Arnold Fornachou, a Syrian/Lebanese concessionaire,  was manning an  ice cream booth.   When he ran out of paper cups he noticed his neighbor was a waffle vendor named Ernest Hamwi.  Hamwi sold some of his waffles to Fornachou who rolled them into cones to hold his ice cream.  Some believe this was the moment when ice cream cones became mainstream, however, there is much dispute as to who was the first to claim the credit!  It is said that Abe Doumar and the Doumar family was  credited with the ice cream cone.  At 16 years old, Doumar began making an income by selling paperweights and other items.   With his profits he bought waffles from a vendor from Belgium, rolled up the waffle and put a scoop of ice cream in it.  He began to sell the "cones" at the St. Louis Exposition.  They were such a success, that he designed a four-iron baking machine and had a foundry make it for him.  In 1907 at the Jamestown Exposition he and his brother sold nearly 23,000 cones!  Abe then bought a semi-automatic 36-iron machine which produced 20 cones per minute and opened Doumar's Drive In in Norfolk, VA.  It is still in operation today, at the same location, over 100 years later, using the original four-iron baking machine!  You might even see a member of the Doumar family operating the machine!

The earliest cones were rolled by hand, but in 1913 Frederick Bruckman, an inventor from Portland, Oregon, patented a machine for rolling ice cream cones.  However, no record of this patent was ever found. In 1928, he sold his company to Nabisco, which still produces ice cream cones. In 1918, a Lebanese immigrant named Albert George, started the George & Thomas Cone Company and mass produced baked ice cream cones, selling to restaurants and the everyday consumer.  The company became Joy Ice Cream Cone Company, now named the Joy Cone Company and is located in Hermitage, PA.  The company has a western facility in Flagstaff, AR.  The spring of 2018 saw the opening of a $24 million plant at the Hermitage location.  The company is the largest ice cream cone maker in the world, producing 2 billion sugar, cake and waffle cones a year.

Prefilled cones came about in 1928 by J.T."Stubby" Parker of Fort Worth, TX.  In 1931 he formed the Drumstick Company and Nestle purchased it in 1991.  In 1959, Spika, an Italian ice cream maker in Naples was able to coat the inside of a waffle cone with oil, sugar and chocolate forming an insulation for the ice cream.  It became known as "cornetto" in 1960.  Initially it was not successful, but when Unilever bought out Spika and began a mass-marketing campaign through Europe, it became one of the most popular ice cream cones in the world.

In 1979 David Weinstein patented the process of wrapping the cone in a wax paper package.  It made the cones more sanitary and prevented the paper wrap from falling off during transportation or from becoming stuck to the cone.

In 2008 the ice cream cone became the official state food of Missouri.

We give you "Italian Ice Cream."  Considering the early origins of the cone, it seemed appropriate to share with you this adorable little Italian youngster.  We watched as she anxiously awaited her Father's purchase of that large cone and her delighted licking of the sweet dessert as it dribbled down her chin and shirt.  This was captured  in Camogli, Italy.

This image is available in table top to wall size, triple matted and with or without a frame.  The matted versions are yours at a 10% discount and the framed matted versions in sizes 11x14 and larger can be yours at a 15% discount.

Visit our website, www.throughthelensoflee-margaret.com for available sizes and prices.

Stop by and see us on Monday through Friday from 10a.m. to 12 noon and 1:30p.m. to 5 p.m.

The gallery is open for Saturday appointments.  Call us at 904-387-8710 to schedule your special visit.  Come see us and order now.

"Life is like an ice cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time".

Charles M. Schultz