Did You Know It's National Ice Cream Cone Day?
Yet another silly food holiday provides the basis for today's fun fact.
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Today’s fact: Thomas Jefferson was the first American to create an ice cream recipe.
September 22 marks National Ice Cream Cone Day. The origins of the ice cream cone are up for debate, but one of the earliest instances of the cone in action occurred during the St. Louis Fair in 1904.
A man named Albert Aboussie was selling ice cream. His concoctions were so popular that he ran out of bowls. Luckily, he was next door to waffle maker Ernest Hamwi, who lent a hand by rolling his waffles into cone shapes for Aboussie to use.
How many people do you think accidentally licked their ice cream too hard and had to watch in terror as their scoop tumbled to the ground?
Whichever way the cone was truly born, Thomas Jefferson, America’s third President, was QUITE the fan of ice cream. He likely discovered it while in France in the 1780s, and he’s credited as the first American to write a recipe down. It’s for vanilla ice cream and is on display at the Library of Congress.
In Jefferson’s Monticello home, he had multiple molds of ice, an ice cream freezer, and an ice cream ladle.
While in the White House, Jefferson served ice cream on at least six documented occasions. Often, he paired it with a pastry or crust.
The rave reviews started flooding in.
“Ice cream very good, crust wholly dried, crumbled into thin flakes.” -Mannaseh Cutler, Massachusetts Senator
“Balls of the frozen material enclosed in covers of warm pastry, exhibiting a curious contrast, as if the ice had just been taken from the oven.” -Samuel Latham Mitchill, New York Representative
“[I’m going to serve] ice creams on Sunday next, and afterwards, every Wednesday and Sunday, during the season.” -Honoré Julien, Jefferson’s cook in the White House
Word spread fast at the start of the 19th century. Mary Rudolph, who was related to Jefferson through marriage, included more than 20 ice cream recipes in her cookbook, The Virginia House-Wife.
Want to make Jefferson’s recipe yourself? Start mixing here.