Ice pop

"As far back as 1872, two men, doing business as Ross and Robbins, sold a frozen-fruit confection on a stick, which they called the Hokey-Pokey."[5]

Francis William "Frank" Epperson (11 August 1894, Willows, California – 22 October 1983, Fremont, California)[6][7][8][9] of Oakland or San Francisco, California, popularized ice pops after patenting the concept of "frozen ice on a stick" in 1923.[10][11]

Epperson claimed to have first created an ice pop in 1905, [5] at the age of 11, when he accidentally left a glass of powdered lemonade soda and water with a mixing stick in it on his porch during a cold night, a story still printed on the back of Popsicle treat boxes.

Epperson lived in Oakland and worked as a lemonade salesman.[12]

In 1922, Epperson, a realtor with Realty Syndicate Company in Oakland,[13] introduced the Popsicle at a fireman's ball.[14][15][16] It was a sensation, at the age of 29, Epperson applied for a patent in 1923 for a "frozen ice on a stick" called the Epsicle ice pop,[17] and by 1924, he had patented a handled, frozen confection or ice lollipop. He initially called it the Epsicle.[18] Epperson debuted,[19] and began selling Epsicles,[14] in seven fruit flavors[20] at Neptune Beach amusement park, described as a "frozen lollipop," or a "drink on a stick."[21][22]

A couple of years later, Epperson sold the rights to the invention and the Popsicle brand to the Joe Lowe Company in New York City.[10][14]

Popsicle Stick Castle made with 296,000 popsicle sticks

In the United States and Canada frozen ice on a stick is generically referred to as a popsicle due to the early popularity of the Popsicle brand, and the word has become a genericized trademark to mean any ice pop or freezer pop, regardless of brand or format.[23][4][24] (The word is a portmanteau of pop and icicle; the word is genericized to such an extent that there are decades-old derived slang meanings such as "popsicle stand".[25]) They are also called an ice pop or freezer pop in the United States. In the Caicos Islands it is referred to as an ice saver. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the terms ice lolly and ice pop are used, though ice pop is much more common in Ireland. Chihiro is used as a slang term in the Cayman Islands, partially derived from chill.[26] Different parts of Australia use either ice block or icy pole,[27] and New Zealand uses ice block.

Paleteros

A paletero in Denver, Colorado

A paletero (roughly equivalent to the English "ice cream man"), is a street seller of paletas and other frozen treats, usually from a pushcart labeled with the name of the enterprise that made the paletas (paletería).

Today, many paleteros are now commonly found in American cities with significant Mexican populations. Vending requirements for paleteros vary widely by city. In San Jose, California, in 1988, a permit to sell paletas cost about $154.[31]

An ice pop made using a mold

An alternative to the store-bought ice pops is making them at home using fruit juice, drinks, or any freezable beverage. A classic method involves using ice cube trays and toothpicks, although various ice pop freezer molds are also available.

In the UK, there is an increasing number of people making alcoholic ice lollies at home by putting alcoholic drinks inside the mould. Buckfast, Kopparberg and Strongbow Dark Fruit ciders are popular choices used.[32]

In 2018, the UK food-focused design firm called Bompas & Parr announced that they had created the world's first non-melting ice pop.[33] The ice pop does melt but not as fast as other ice pops.[33] This is due to the strands of fruit fibers inside the ice pops which makes them thicker than regular ice pops.[33] The thicker the ice pop the slower it melts.[33] This design was inspired by the material called pykrete, which was invented by Geoffrey Pyke.[33]

On June 22, 2005, Snapple tried to beat the existing Guinness World Records entry of a 1997 Dutch 21-foot (6.4 m) ice pop by attempting to erect a 25-foot (7.6 m) ice pop in New York City. The 17.5 short tons (15.9 t) of frozen juice that had been brought from Edison, New Jersey, in a freezer truck melted faster than expected, dashing hopes of a new record. Spectators fled to higher ground as firefighters hosed away the melted juice.[34]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ice lollipops.

• Freezie – a.k.a. ice pole – similar to an ice pop but without the stick
• Ice cream bar - similar to an ice pop but made with ice cream
• Ice cream
• Sorbet

• Andrew F. Smith, ed. (2007). "Popsicle". The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. p. 471.
• laverrán, Virginia González. "Historia del Helado en México By Martin González de la Vara ." Historia Mexicana 40 .2 (1990 ): 350-354.
• Ortiz, Laura Velasco. "La Michoacana. Historia de Paleteros de Tocombu by Martin González de la Vara ." Historia Mexicana 58.1 (2008): 509-516.
• Zuñiga, Ricardo Miranda. "Vagamundo: A migrant's Tale ." (n.d.).http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1027762&bnc=1

• How do people refer to the frozen treat pictured here? - The University of Manchester