Episode 97: I Scream for Ice Cream!

About the Episode

It’s been a long road for the ice cream to get into your freezer. In fact we’re not really sure where it began! But some fascinating people helped along the way, from Edmund Albius and his developments with vanilla to Nancy Johnson and her patent for an ice cream maker. At the turn of the 1900s, Hokey Pokey men were still talking around pushing carts and selling a variety of cold treats, but with the rise of the automobile came the Ice Cream Truck. You’ll enjoy learning more about the treat in your freezer!

Transcriptions:

Nancy Johnson, Edmund Albius, Washington and Ice Cream

I don’t know about you, but ice cream is not a seasonal thing for me. My family eats ice cream in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. It’s easy to think: “cold treats for warm weather,” but somehow ice cream has melted the hearts of so many that its chilly, sweet pleasures are bound by no calendar. Ice cream in July or ice cream December. (AHHH!) 

Of course, hot weather is the prime time for scarfing ice cream – that’s when the most ice cream gets eaten. And if you were to get a hankering on a blistering sunny afternoon these days, think of the options: a grocery store, a convenience store, a drive thru, or one of the many ice cream shops lining the streets of whatever town you call home. Yes, we live in an ice cream paradise my friends – A Vanilla valhalla, a Chocolatopia, a divine abode for Rocky Road. But know, it wasn’t always easy to fill our cup – or cone, whichever is your preference. In the past, ice cream was a pretty serious luxury. If you listened to our previous episode – about ice itself (no cream just the ice) – you’d guess getting the frozen water to make it was problem number one. Would you be right? Yep. You’d be right. That’s why we made that episode first. But it wasn’t just the ice that was hard to come by – it was the sugar and salt too.  

That’s why when we hear about Ice cream in early America we often hear about how much George Washington and Thomas Jefferson liked it. That’s right – those two famous dudes from the history books liked ice cream as much as you or me. But they were Thomas Jefferson and George Washington – they had power and resources that most people did not have. So it wasn’t an “ice cream for all” type of world.  

Presidential love not withstanding, ice cream isn’t an American invention. It’s hard to be sure where it came from, and it’s also hard to know exactly what we can call “ice cream.” For example, we know that Roman soldiers really enjoyed eating snow flavored with delicious things. That’s something that people still do today – ever had maple syrup on snow? I have – it’s great. But it’s not really cream, is it? Most likely the first cream-based cold treat was enjoyed in Ancient China. Maybe that made its way in story or practice to Europe. And if so, many people say that as far as European ice cream origins are concerned, we have the same people to thank that we have for so many other delicious things: The Italians.   

But even after it made its way to America, ice cream was not a part of everyone’s lives. George Washington was wealthy. He was wealthy before he was president and he was wealthy after. As a rich man in Virginia in the 1700s, that meant a number of things. He could buy all the salt he wanted. He could buy all the tools he wanted. He could buy all the sugar he wanted – which was a very expensive commodity at the time. He could build and icehouse to hold ice year-round – something a common citizen would not have. It also meant that he owned the lives of many enslaved people whose labor was used to keep the plantation running. It was the enslaved who harvested ice, and who did most of the cooking at Mt. Vernon – the Washington estate – including ice cream.  

But even if a regular family of the 1700s did have the tools and ingredients, it took so much work to make ice cream that there was no way they would use their valuable time making an indulgent treat which would immediately melt. They would need to be doing other things – tending or preserving crops to get through winter, cutting firewood, making clothes, or handling to other important matters around the house. Even if they had the ingredients – most people did not have time to make ice cream!  

Historians have found an inventory list from their lives, and the document shows the Washingtons had lots of ice cream paraphernalia – several hand powered machines, special dishes, spoons, and even molds. At the time, it was common for lucky ice cream eaters to shape their ice cream into decorative designs with little ice cream molds before enjoying. Think about freezing your ice in a fun decorative ice cube tray – same thing but with your dessert! Ice cream flowers, birds, even pyramids.  

Shapes – okay yeah – but what about flavors? What kinda ice cream are we talking about in the 1700s? A few of the common flavors might sound familiar – raspberry, pistachio, or lemon. One of the most popular flavors though was parmesan. That’s right – parmesan cheese ice cream. It’s probably better than your initial reaction might lead you to believe. I’ve never tasted such a thing, but I’d give it a try.   

You probably noticed that I didn’t mention vanilla. That’s because while vanilla was well known as a spice, it was expensive and very hard to get. But all of that changed in the early 1840s. Which just so happened to be the time that thousands of regular people started enjoying ice cream at home too. 

Vanilla flavoring comes from the seed pod of a flower known as a Vanilla orchid and that orchid is native to Mexico. When Europeans developed a taste for the delicious and expensive flavor, they tried to grow the flower in other places – but what they didn’t know was that also in Mexico there was a specific type of bee which pollinated the flowers so they would produce the seed pods and grow more plants. Without these specific bees buzzing about, pollination would never occur and plants would never bear fruit. Other bees just didn’t seem to be interested, so when planted in other places the treasured vanilla producing plants died and did not reproduce.  

One of the places where plantation owners tried to grow vanilla orchids was on an island in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the African continent. It wasn’t working, that is until in 1841, when a 12-year-old boy changed history. His name was Edmund Albius, and he was enslaved on the island of Reunion – which had been colonized by France. He had a natural knack for Botany and while experimenting with a thin stick and particular motion swiping his fingers, he developed a way to pollinate the orchids successfully. His vanilla victory had stumped even the most famous scientists of the day. Before long the island was exporting more vanilla than Mexico. Edmund’s technique meant vanilla could be grown all around the world – which brought down the price – meaning it could also be eaten all around the world.  

Two years after the vanilla breakthrough a new development would rock the ice cream world. Nancy Johnson was born in New York but she was living in Philadelphia when she was awarded the first patent in America for an ice cream maker. If you’ve ever made ice cream yourself, you’ve probably used something like, or influenced by Nancy’s clever design. There are basically 3 parts to her ice cream contraption – a round container – sort of like a narrow barrel, a second, smaller round metal container, and a paddle with a crank handle that fits in the smaller metal container. The outer container is filled with ice and salt (which helps it get really cold). The inner container is filled with ice cream ingredients and then placed into the icy outer container so the salty ice is all around the outer surface. Then the hand-powered crank handle turns the paddles inside – this scrapes the freezing cream off the inside walls, mixes the ingredients, and adds some air to the cream, so when it freezes the delicious dish is silky smooth and not a solid mass.  

Having Ice cream dreams? With one of these babies, you my friend will be up to your ears in the flavor of your choice in 30 minutes or less. Sure, you might have a tired arm, but it’s worth it. You can switch arms, or tag team it with your family – everyone earns their desert by taking some time turning the crank!  

Thanks to the growing availability of ice, not to mention the plummeting cost of sugar, salt, spices and other flavors, this invention helped spark a frozen revolution. Families could do it themselves, and were more likely to – it wouldn’t be a drain on time and resources. It would just be a delicious diversion.  

Nancy was a pioneer in other ways too. Typically in America at this time, married women would lose their legal rights to their husbands. Financial matters, contracts, and property, were almost always ceded over in marriage. Often, when a woman had an idea worthy of a patent, she would apply through her husband or another male relative. But Nancy applied for her patent under her own name and handled all of the legal matters on her own. A few years later she sold the patent – but her impact was made. Ice Cream Culture would never be the same. Even the electric ice cream mixers used today commercially and in homes owe a debt to Johnson’s Artificial Freezer, as it was called.  

She lived until the age of 95, and after the war was an educator in the Port Royal experiment which was designed to train and educate formerly enslaved people. She died in 1890 and is buried in Washington DC’s Oak Hill Cemetery – which is one of my all-time favorite cemeteries I’ve ever explored.  

Hokey Pokey Men and Good Humor

In the 1880s something unusual began happening in many American cities – especially in the most crowded neighborhoods. On the hottest days of the year, kids heard the slow pace of someone’s footsteps. Some heard a song. Or someone whistling. Some heard a metallic squeak. Like a rusty wheel slowly turning a corner just out of sight. Everyone knew who it was when they heard it. They didn’t need to see him to react. It was the Hokey Pokey Man.  

When the Hokey Pokey Man came, everyone ran. The Hokey Pokey man seemed to have an otherworldly ability to be in many places at the same time: on different street corners in the same city – In different cities across the globe. It seemed the Hokey Pokey man was always around. Or, as if just by thought you could conjure him up.  

The Hokey Pokey Man was everywhere in summer. Because there were lots of Hokey Pokey men and they went where the people were – the streets of crowded cities. And often, he did squeak. That was from the wheels on his pushcart. And he did sing. At least some of them did. That’s how you knew he was coming. And the kids did run. They ran towards him. Each with a penny in their hand. They’d line up and when it was their turn they’d put that sweaty penny in his palm. In return The Hokey Pokey Man would lay out a sheet of paper, onto which he’d plop out a scoop of shaved ice. Then he’d pour a flavored syrup on the ice and off the kid would run – happy with their quick cool treat, and hoping they’d have another penny for the next time he came around.   

In many ways, Hokey Pokey men were the original ice cream men. And they weren’t just in America. In England and other places the practice was the same – a pushcart for a mobile refreshment. Still today a popular flavor of ice cream in New Zealand is called Hokey Pokey – a delicious combo of Vanilla Ice Cream and honey comb toffee (both of which oddly happen to relate to the guy from the last story – Edmund Albius whose gift to ice cream culture involved both vanilla and bees). Anyway, no one is totally sure as to why they were called Hokey Pokey Men. Did they put their scoop right in and take their scoop right out? After you took a bite did you want to shake it all about?  In England it may have come from a common phrase they would sing or callout to let kids know the gettin’ was good. Or it may have been because Italian Americans working as pushcart ice cream men called out Oche Poco – which means “oh how cheap!” You might see how this phrase oche poco could be changed to the more familiar Hokey Pokey. Or maybe it was related to the word Hocus Pocus, they’re similar too right? But the fact is that we don’t know what it’s all about.  

Also plain ice and syrup wasn’t the only treat a Hokey Pokey man had to offer. Depending on when and where you were, you could have purchased a different kind of frozen treat, and many of them involved cream. And as we’ve learned from the last episode, AND our entire episode about bad milk – If a food service worker doesn’t keep things clean especially when milk is involved – well people are gonna get sick. And Hokey Pokey Ice Cream men were no different. Beyond flopping it right on a piece of paper, another common way of delivering an icy treat at this time was a small glass. They were called Penny lickers, and you might recall that we’ve covered them before. But lets cover them again because they are fun to talk about.  

It goes like this: you pay a penny. The vendor gives you a little glass filled with ice cream. No spoon. So what do you do? You stick your tongue in there and get your ice cream like a dog at a water bowl. Once you’ve licked it clean, you hand it back over. The vendor dunks it in some old grey water. Probably not even soap in there. If it’s a busy day, within a few minutes someone else is gonna pay a penny and be licking that same dirty glass soon after. Which of course means, unless you were one of the first pennylicker purchasers that day, well, someone else had already licked that glass before you did. Probably a lot of people. Ewww. 

And that’s not even taking into account the safe, or unsafe, storage of milk products in the hot sun. People got sick. And after getting sick, many decided it wasn’t worth the risk to buy a questionable treat from the Hokey Pokey man in your neighborhood anymore.  

Maybe you were lucky enough to have one of Mrs. Johnson’s ice cream-making machines and the ice to make the magic happen. If not, your summer was probably gonna be pretty hot. Until a guy in Ohio decided to take ice cream to the streets in a new way – safely, and deliciously – I might add. Harry Burt was his name and chocolate-dipped ice cream was his game. He was a confectioner by trade – which means he made and sold delicious things like candies and sweets – and he wasn’t the first person to take a bar of vanilla ice cream and cover it in chocolate. But thanks to the suggestion of his children, he may have been the first person to put a wooden stick in there. You see, his kids liked the treat, but didn’t like the melty chocolate-stained fingers that followed. A stick was the perfect handle for maximum ice cream enjoyment with minimal frustrating mess.  

But this story is not about a stick. It’s about the alternative to the questionably safe Hokey Pokey man’s pushcart filled with cold treats. Burts Bars – now with 100% more stick – had some distinct advantages over the competition. They were portable. They were easy to package. And typically speaking, you shouldn’t get sick after eating one. They’re not dangerous. As long as you don’t eat the stick, of course. 

But Burt looked around and got to thinking. Then his idea came.  

Hey, you know cars? 

Cars? What do you mean, like automobiles? 

Yeah. You know them? 

Yes I know them. We’re in one right now Burt. You’re driving it. What’s your point?  

What if we had a big car, with like lots of storage.  

Are you thinking of a truck?  

Yeah, I guess so. Hey, you know trucks?  

Burt, what are you doing here man? Where’s this going? 

Well, you know Ice cream? 

YES. I’m eating one of your ice cream bars right now. It’s delicious. And my hands are so clean, but yes, obviously I know ice cream. I scream for ice cream. And I’m gonna scream at you if you don’t get to the point.  

I just think it would be a good idea to put these ice cream bars I made in a truck and sell them around town.  

Like a high speed hokey pokey man?  

Exactly. Forget push carts – we’ll be motorized baby! 

It’ll never work. People don’t trust ice cream on street corners anymore. Too many tummy aches. or worse.  

My bars won’t give you a tummy ache.  

People don’t know that.  

Well we’ll dress the ice cream guys up in really clean white uniforms, like scientists or hospital workers, and give ‘em hats and ties. And the Truck will be all white, shiny and refrigerated. We’ll show everyone how clean we are, just by looking clean. 

Hmm…This might be just crazy enough to work.  

Those ice cream bars were known as Good Humor Bars, and before long, the Good Humor man was driving a truck full of ‘em around the many streets of America to the great pleasure of children. Of course there wasn’t one driver – there were thousands of Good Humor Men, and finally in the 1960s were there also good Humor Women. It was with these ice cream drivers and big white vehicles that the idea of an ice cream truck came to be.  

The first trucks in the 1920s only had one door – on the driver’s side. After ringing his bell to get everyone’s attention, the driver would hop out onto the street or curb or sidewalk, head around back, open up the refrigerated section on the back, and start selling ice cream bars faster than you can do the “Hokey Pokey.” According to the Smithsonian, in 1932 over 14 million Good Humor Bars were sold in New York and Chicago alone. Millions more were savored in other cities as Good Humor, despite competition and copycats, became the street-based ice cream leader.  

The trucks continued with the bells and bars through the 1970s. But as with all things, the industry changed. Good Humor trucks disappeared from the streets around this time. Replaced by less consistent ice cream delivery vehicles.  Today the bulk of ice cream bars consumed come from the grocery store or ice cream shops. Recipe is still the same as it ever was though. Vanilla ice cream. Chocolate shell coating. Wooden stick. That’s what it’s all about.