Few treats say summer quite like an ice cream sandwich. Soft chocolate wafers, a thick slab of vanilla, and sticky fingers by the second bite. It's often said the ice cream sandwich was born on the busy streets of New York. That's partly true, but the full story starts somewhere else.
The short answer: the first known recipe for an ice cream sandwich was published in London in 1894, made with ice cream between two slices of sponge cake. New York's role came a few years later. By 1899, street vendors there were selling ice cream sandwiches, and that's where they became a popular American treat.
A London Recipe Comes First
Back in 1894, a recipe published in London layered ice cream between two pieces of sponge cake. It's the earliest known recipe for an ice cream sandwich. In 1900, a cookbook by Charles Herman Senn called Ices, and How to Make Them also included a notable ice cream sandwich recipe.
So the basic idea, ice cream held between two pieces of something edible, was already out there before it took off in America.
The Hokey Pokey Men of New York
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, "hokey pokey" was slang for ice cream sold by street vendors in places like New York City and parts of Britain. The sellers, mostly of Italian descent, were called "hokey pokey men," and they used songs or sales pitches built around the phrase.
The earliest mention of ice cream sandwiches in North America dates to 1899. New York street vendors sold slabs of ice cream between sheets of paper. Then someone had the bright idea of using cookies instead of paper, and a classic was born, at least in its American form.
The treat caught on quickly. Magazine and newspaper articles in 1901 and 1902, including one in the New York Tribune, wrote about its rising popularity. Photos from the Jersey Shore around 1905 show ice cream sandwiches being sold for just one cent each.
From Street Carts to Factories
As demand grew, so did the need for machines. The earliest U.S. patent connected to ice cream sandwiches went to Russell H. Proper in 1921 for an "Ice Cream Sandwich Machine."
Today's factories use clever equipment. Some machines squeeze ice cream from a rectangular nozzle and press wafers onto each side. Newer ones drop a wafer onto a conveyor belt, slice ice cream onto it with a hot wire, add a top wafer, and send the whole thing through a hardening tunnel.
Regional favorites popped up, too. In 1928, George Whitney invented the It's-It at San Francisco's Playland at the Beach: vanilla ice cream between two oatmeal cookies, dipped in chocolate. For nearly 45 years, you could only buy it at his shop.
A Treat the Whole World Loves
The idea has spread around the globe. In Vietnam, street vendors stuff scoops of ice cream inside a bánh mì roll and sprinkle it with crushed peanuts. In Singapore, blocks of ice cream are tucked between wafers or even slices of rainbow-colored bread. Iran has its own version made with traditional ice cream between two wafers.
In the United States, August 2 has been celebrated as National Ice Cream Sandwich Day since at least 2005. So whether its first bite happened in London or on a New York street corner, it's a treat worth celebrating.
