The Ice Cream Cone's
Continuing Legacy

Like all things in life, over time, they change. The ice cream cone is no different. The history of the ice cream cone wasn't completed back in the early 1900s. The Ice Cream Cone's History is on going to this day. And like all sweet treats, most change for the better. I hope you didn't think the ice cream cone's freshly made popularity has always been around.

As you will discover as you read this article. The freshly made ice cream cone came into being and vanished just as quickly, as American manufacturers jumped on the idea of a ice cream cone and created the packaged wafer and sugar cones. The subject of this story is to introduce the world to the man that brought back the handmade ice cream parlor cone you see everywhere around the world.

The history of the ice cream cone has always been an on going controversy, even though if the many stories are true, there shouldn't be any question about who invented the ice cream cone first. Yet it is understandable, since back in the late 1800s/ early 1900s, America was a large place with communities that weren’t as well in touch with each other as they are today.

Everyone has heard the story about the ice cream cone's start at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. At this event an ice cream vendor had run out of his supply of dishes to serve ice cream. When to the rescue came Earnest M. Hamwi a Syrian pastry baker who made his Zalabia Pastries and sold them to the ice cream vendor.

It has also been noted that the 1904 World's Fair had approximately 50 ice cream booths and plenty of waffle vendors, making the Fair the probable beginning to the now famous popularity of ice cream cone. At least it's safe to say the honors for inventing the ice cream cone is in part due to the ice cream cone getting world wide recognition at the fair. Where as if any of the vendors were serving up a cone in small town America, its no wonder they didn't get any credit.

However, there was a man named Abe Doumar at the fair who claimed he was selling waffles filled with ice cream each night at the entertainment area. Yes, but were they shaped like a cone? Or were they more like the long time New Jersey boardwalk treat that has been served for years. This Jersey treat takes a slice of ice cream and places it between two warm breakfast waffles. Delicious, by the way, if you’ve never had one!

But that's not the end of it. There's also David Avayou, a Turkish man from New Jersey who owned several ice cream shops and claimed to be at the fair selling ice cream in a French pastry cone.

Yet, there was one man who may just be the one true inventor of the ice cream cone, who states to have begun selling lemon ice in cones back in 1896 in New York. His name... Italio Marchiony. He probably has the most believable claim to the title of the cone's originator since he had the smarts to apply for a patent for the waffle iron used to make his cones. The patent was issued to him just months before the 1904 World's Fair, on December 13, 1903.

I guess this controversy may last forever between New York and St. Louis. But all of us can agree on one thing. There hasn't been very much happening with the ice cream cone since then. Not until the 1980s.

During the early 1980s, in a small Danish town just north of Santa Barbara, California, called Solvang, there was a man named Jorn Caroe of the Caroe Trading Company who owned the Danish Cone Company. At this ice cream store, in the front window, was a replica of a waffle cone machine that was manufactured from one found in Jorn’s father’s basement back in Denmark. One the family had in use until World War II broke out.

As history would have it Jorn was creating the next big thing to happen to the ice cream cone since the late 1800s, early 1900s. Jorn was selling his cone machines to Americans wanting to start or already having their own ice cream parlor. The concept was fantastic, yet it makes one wonder what ever happened to the ice cream vendors of the last century.

Did Americans really prefer having a box cone replacing a cone warm and fresh, right off the waffle iron? Maybe good advertising won over the American ice cream shop owner and their customers to the simplicity of having a cone right out of the box. What ever the reason the 1980s changed all that when Jorn came along and woke us all up, for the first time again, to the fantastic taste of freshly baked ice cream cones.

During this time Eric and Joanne Nielsen were regular visitors to Solvang, California, and like many people, saw the unique potential for an ice cream business using Jorn’s ice cream cone making machine.

All it took was one taste of the Great Danish Cone Company's hand made cone served up with a dollup of whipped cream and a dab of strawberry preserves on top.

Jorn’s Cone Machine, for those of you that may have only seen the electrical type cone machine at the local Baskin-Robbins, is definitely set up to put on a show and bring customers into the store. The machine is similar to a wagon wheel on its side with 6 waffle irons that flip and spin to bake the cones evenly on both sides over 5 gas burners. It was also set up to convert from natural gas to propane if the owner was going to bake cones at fairs and festivals.

Picture is of Giggles' Ice Cream Parlor in Port Hueneme, California. Home of the Original Flavored Ice Cream Cone. This is Mrs. Giggles, as the Ice Cream Junkies of the time use to call her.

Let’s point out. The electric cone machines you see today in the ice cream parlors around the world are the result of American ingenuity by major manufacturers, who saw Jorn’s new trend coming and made a quicker, yet inexpensive cone maker to sell to shop owners. Today, Jorn’s ice cream cone machine is lost. No sooner did he get started he began having heart trouble and returned to Denmark forever. The Danish Cone Company still exists in Solvang, California as the birthplace of the waffle cone and the Home of Today's Freshly Made Ice Cream Cone.

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The Ice Cream Cone's Legacy Continues With The Creation Of The Original Flavored Ice Cream Cone

In 1983, after seeing Jorn’s cone machine, Eric Nielsen decide along with his wife Joanne to purchase one of the cone machines for the purpose of making gourmet flavored ice cream cones (also known as cookie cones) so customers can mix and match their favorite ice cream with a crunchy cookie style cone in a variety of flavors. You see, at that time Jorn was giving the cone recipe to everyone purchasing one of his machines. Eric's idea was to work off the original cone recipe and from that recipe invent numerous additional recipes for everyone to enjoy.

Well, Eric had to scratch around to come up with enough money to buy a machine and by the time he did Jorn had moved on to another money making idea. That idea was to keep the cone recipe a secret and generate more sales by having a mill produce a cone mix in bags to sell to store owners.

After purchasing the cone machine and being turned down by Jorn when asked for the recipe, Eric progressed forward. A booth was built for taking the ice cream cones on the road in order to make the money needed to open a store.

The City of Ventura, California had an event called the Fiesta Del Sol which we first introduced our little area of the world to the freshly baked cones. Then there was Oxnard, California’s 1^st Strawberry Festival, of which the Nielsen’s were one of many local business owners who helped with the City of Oxnard’s efforts to organize the festival.

When the festival took place the Nielsen’s ice cream cone booth was a hit. So much so, the judges gave the Nielsen’s booth the festival’s most popular booth award. Of course it was an honor to receive the award. But more of a shock to see customers who were not willing to wait in a long line at the service window, opting to circle the booth to get service at the back door too. Wow… was that a busy event! The Nielsen’s learned a lot that day about how ready the public mind was to add fresh baked waffle cones to their list of favorite treats.

After Oxnard’s Strawberry Festival a store location had to be planned for and recipes had to be created for the flavored cones that would be served and put into place as the main concept for the store’s identity. Out of that Giggles was born in the neighboring beach town of Port Hueneme, California, with the branding concept being: “The Original Flavored Cone”.

In the end, Giggles’ customers were fantastic and the experience of inventing the flavors of cones that everyone loved so much was one of a kind.

Since owning Giggles, the Nielsen’s have run into past customers who would say they wished Giggles was still around so the now grandparents and parents of the next generation could bring their families by for a fresh baked cone. Well, this is the crowning achievement that most business owners don’t get to hear. And wow what a shock to be remembered in such a favorable way.

This got Eric thinking about bringing his cones to those same customers that wished Giggles was still around. After all, major manufacturing companies have been making cone machines for home use for a while now. Yet, after more than 20 years, no one has introduced the gourmet flavored cone.

Now, in closing, let's back track to the beginning of the story and which of the 50 vendors at the 1904 World's Fair invented the ice cream cone. My vote goes to the original story, because if out of 50 vendors, even if a couple were serving ice cream cones. It would have made news the world over. After all... the concept of the World's Fair is to introduce the world to everything new in the world.

And like Giggles Ice Cream Parlor. We were serving our Original Flavored Ice Cream Cones in the 1980s, but it wasn't until now that the world is discovering how to mix their favorite flavor of ice cream to one of Giggles' delicious cookie cones.

This time Eric would offer a homemade treat that families the world over can serve up at birthdays, BBQs, holidays, tailgating parties, or anywhere ice cream can use a nifty kicked up version of the dish first served over a hundred years ago.

Thanks to Jorn Caroe of Demark for giving the world the waffle cone made fresh daily at ice cream parlors the world over.

The Ice Cream Cone's Continuing Legacy (History) by Eric R. Nielsen.
Ice Cream Cone Expert, author of "The Great American Ice Cream Cone"
and inventor of The Original Flavored Ice Cream Cone. http://www.IceCreamJunkies.com.
Copyright © 2006 by MGTG Publishing

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