The Ice Cream Cone

Before cones

In the 1800s, street ice cream in cities like London and New York was often served in small glasses called penny licks, which customers licked clean and returned. They were unhygienic, and edible containers offered a better way. An 1888 English cookbook by Agnes Marshall included cornets of ice cream, early edible cones.

Patents and fairs

Italo Marchiony, an Italian immigrant in New York, received a US patent in 1903 for a mould to make edible cups. The cone became a sensation at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, where several vendors claimed to have invented it, including a waffle seller who rolled waffles into cones for a neighbouring ice cream stand when it ran out of dishes. The exact first is still debated.

Machines and mass production

By the 1920s, cone-rolling machines could make thousands of cones a day, and cones became the standard way to sell ice cream at parks, beaches and shops. Sugar cones and waffle cones added crunch and flavour.

Cone tips

To avoid drips, choose a cone with a chocolate coating inside, or ask for a cup underneath. Waffle cones hold more but soften faster. Soft serve suits wafer cones because it melts more slowly than hard scoops.

How it changed everyday life

Cones turned ice cream into street food you could walk with, which helped ice cream parlours, beach stands and ice cream vans spread. The soft serve cone became a summer ritual, and dipped cones with chocolate shells added another twist. Different countries developed their own styles, from Italian gelato in small cones to Turkish ice cream served with playful tricks. For many people, the first ice cream cone of summer is a nostalgic family memory, and vintage cone-rolling machines are prized by collectors.

Did you know?

Many US towns hold National Ice Cream Day celebrations each July, and the ice cream cone is one of the official symbols of the 1904 St. Louis fair.

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