Popsicles Create a Century of Smiles
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
When the temperature rises who can resist a popsicle?
The popsicle is a true American classic – a colorful, sweet, icy creation that has been putting smiles on people’s faces since 1905.
Invented in San Francisco by Frank Epperson – an 11-year-old boy – it was one of those accidental discoveries. Epperson was mixing a powdered flavoring with soda water to make a fruit pop drink and left it out on the porch overnight with the wooden stir stick still in.
The concoction froze around the stick, resulting in the first popsicle – a combination of soda pop and icicle.
Popsicle, the brand, is currently owned by Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever.
Across America for generations the musical sound of the Good Humor truck would have kids running to get Popsicles on hot, summer days.
SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel remember the double-sided bars that you could break in half to share.
“I’d take them inside the house and cut them in half with a butter knife,” said Sunny, whose five younger siblings all wanted Popsicles.
“And, if you didn’t cut them just right, they split the wrong way,” Patti recalls. Her sister Eileen was the one in charge of breaking the bars.
Available in a rainbow of colors, Popsicles have been joined by other frosty inventions.
Fudgsicles, Creamsicles, Sidewalk Sundaes, Pop Ups, Rocket Pops, and more.
With so many new icy pops on the scene, over the past century the name “popsicle” has become the generic term for any icy treat on a stick.
Today frozen desserts are a $7 billion retail category and popsicles are one of the leaders of the pack with $2 billion in annual sales, providing retailers with cool profits and consumers with cool treats.
It’s amazing how something as simple as flavoring and ice could make such a mark in the marketplace…and in people’s lives.
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