Do
you know, along the ice cream cones, what other invention allowed ice creams to
be enjoyed while strolling around? It was ice cream sandwich. Contrary to the
common knowledge, they were invented almost at the same time as that of waffles
or cones, around the 1900s.
However,
instead of modern day cookies, the ice cream, usually vanilla, was sandwiched
between thin wafers; it was a clever idea by a street peddler to make ice cream
more outdoor friendly, neutralizing the need of dishes to serve frozen treats,
which was a standard those days. This trick helped him to circumvent the
washing part that saved him time, and made him earn more money. However, he
barely had an idea that his invention will be revolutionary, until a newspaper
covered the story. Soon, people, who wanted to get a taste it, mobbed his kart;
he even charged an extra one cent for it. The idea was path breaking not only
because it made ice cream portable but also because people could enjoy their
treat better, since the heat from hands helped making ice cream softer.
Traditionally,
the ice cream sandwiches were made with a chop of vanilla ice cream, which was cut
from a bigger slab that was hard. While the modern ice cream sandwich, which we
know as Cartwheel sandwich is made from fresh soft ice cream, sandwiched
between chocolate cookies. It became popular a lot later, when portable soft
ice cream dispenser became common on ice cream truck.
Today,
we enjoy our frozen sandwich in many forms; now, at some specialized places,
you can ice cream sandwiched between buns, macarons, doughnuts, and croissants.
However,
our favorite sandwiches are still those cartwheel one, sold in huge volumes by ice cream truck companies. Does this piece of ice-cream history made you crave for ice
cream sandwich? It does to me. I am off to buy one. Cheerio!
