Do you know that the Popsicle, one of America’s favorite cool treats, was invented by an eleven year old boy? One hundred years ago, in 1905, Frank Epperson, left outside a glass of fruit flavored drink with a stir stick. During the night, San Francisco had a freeze with temperatures going below 32 degrees; the drink froze to the stick. Frank was able to pull out the concoction by running warm water over the glass. He thought it tasted yummy.
And the Popsicle was born!
Later, in 1923, Frank Epperson applied for a patent calling his invention “Epsicle.” At the urging of his children who referred to it as “Pop’s sicles,” he changed it to Popsicle. Epperson designed a machine to produce the seven flavors of Popsicles.
Epperson sold the rights to his invention to Joe Lowe Company in 1925. Although frozen juice bars had been around since the 1800’s, Popsicle was the first to be mass produced. By 1928, over 60 million of these treats were sold. During the depression, the twin Popsicle was created which permitted two children to enjoy the treat for only five cents. By the 1950’s with the invention of the refrigerator/freezer, Popsicle sales boomed. Multi packs of Popsicles were produced as people could now store a supply of the frozen delight.
Today, the Popsicle is owned by the Unilever Company. There are over thirty different flavors made of this treat. Among the popular flavors are grape, cherry, banana, lime, and lemon. The number one flavor is orange. Popsicles are fun to eat and to make! Try making your own with the following recipes:
Popsicle recipes:
Frozen Juice Pops
Ingredients:
Pineapple juice
Orange Juice
Fill plastic Popsicle container s with pineapple juice or orange juice or mix the two together. Put Popsicle stick on top and freeze for several hours. For fun, you can add pineapple chunks prior to freezing. For a fizzy flavor, add carbonated water to the fruit juice.
Root beer Float-sicles
Ingredients:
1 liter of root beer
1 gallon of vanilla ice cream
First, spoon ice cream into plastic Popsicle containers. Next fill the containers with root beer being careful as it will fizz. Put Popsicle stick on top and freeze for several hours.
Popsicle sticks:
Over 1.4 billion sticks have been used to create this sweet confection. If you placed the sticks end-to end, it would stretch for 9 million miles. For years, many craft projects for children utilized the Popsicle stick. Artists Helping Children and Popsicle websites have many craft projects using Popsicle sticks including pencil holders, fans, bookmarks, sailboats, and a space ship. The materials needed are listed along with directions for making plus diagrams and illustrations.
Next time you eat a Popsicle, remember the young inquisitive eleven year old boy who invented this cool treat. And don’t throw out the sticks!