The Origins of the Ice Cream Cone

We love to talk about ice cream history because we love to talk about ice cream. Any excuse to talk about ice cream is a good excuse.

Today, we’re thinking about ice cream cones. Why ice cream cones? Why not? There are so many different types of ice cream cones nowadays: The traditional wafer-style cone, the sugar cone, the waffle cone…the chocolate-covered waffle cone….mmm….chocolate-covered waffle cone. Sorry, almost got distracted there. Anyway, there are plenty of delicious options to choose from if you love to hold and eat your ice cream.

The search for the beginnings of the ice cream cone reminded us of our search for the origin of pie a la mode. In other words, who invented the ice cream cone? Well, there we’re in kind of a grey area.

Both paper and metal cones were apparently used in parts of Europe prior to the 19th century.

Edible cones can be traced back to cookbooks in 1825. Cones were described as being rolled from “little waffles”. Another reference to the ice cream cone is found in an English cookbook back in 1888. That description included a recipe for a cone made with almonds and “baked in the oven, not pressed between irons.” The edible ice cream cone made its American debut at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Historians say there were over 50 ice cream cone stands at the Fair. It’s said that a Lebanese immigrant built one of the first ice cream cone machines in the U.S. It was a mold for pastry cups that were then filled with ice cream.

The earliest edible ice cream cones were rolled by hand, from hot and thin wafers. In 1912, an inventor in Portland, Oregon patented a machine for rolling ice cream cones.

No matter who invented what and when, one thing is not in dispute: Ice cream cones, when filled with great ice cream, are delicious.