What better what to celebrate National Ice Cream Day than by enjoying the independent farms and dairies right here in on the Delmarva Peninsula. While while you can go to a chain place anytime, we think the REAL delicacies are found at the local shops and area creameries Below we've listed some of our favorites from Delaware and the eastern shore areas of Maryland and Virginia.
DELAWARE
Fifer Orchards in Wyoming, established 1919
Hopkins Farm Creamery in Lewes
Kings Ice Cream in Lewes and Milton
Vanderwende Farm Creamery in Bridgeville
Woodside Creamery in Hockessin
MARYLAND'S EASTERN SHORE
Chesapeake Bay Farms in Pocomoke City (and now Berlin)
Dumsers in Ocean City, established 1939
The Scottish Highland Creamery in Oxford
Kilby Cream in Rising Sun
South Mountain Creamery in Middletown
and read about Maryland's ice cream trail
VIRGINIA'S EASTERN SHORE
Island Creamery in Chincoteague, opened May 1975
After looking up these fabulous places I had to find out a bit more about the history of CONES. Because as any normal carb-lover and someone who craves the crunchy delight at the end of the ice cream, I'm always looking for places which make their own (Island Creamery never disappoints!)
You may have come across a story about an enterprising vendor at a fair many years ago. While selling ice cream he was inspired to roll up a waffle as possibly one of the first "to go" dishes for his treats.... I wonder if that is just rumor or actual history. "While there is some controversy as to who invented the ice cream cone, one of the earliest mentions of them showed up in French cook books around 1825. They were originally referred to as “little waffles” rolled into a cone shape."
In the United States, ice cream cones were popularized in the first decade of the 20th century. In 1904, a New Yorker named Italo Marchioni received a patent for a pastry cup mold to hold ice cream. Marchioni claimed that he has been selling ice cream in edible pastry holders since 1896, HOWEVER his patent was not for a cone. He subsequently lost the lawsuits that he had filed against cone manufacturers for patent infringement.
The Doumar family also claims credit for the ice cream cone, being the first ones to roll up a waffle and place a scoop of ice cream on top of it. They began making the cones and selling them at the St. Louis Exposition with such success that a four-iron baking machine was designed and produced. At the Jamestown Exposition in 1907, the family sold nearly twenty-three thousand cones. (yes, you did read that right....23,000) They went on to invent a semiautomatic 36-iron machine, which produced 20 cones per minute while opening Doumar's Drive In in Norfolk, Virginia. Today. over 100 years later, this business continues operations at the same location.
I hope you get a chance to visit and enjoy some of these places on "National Ice Cream Day" and all throughout the summertime.
"Life on Delmarva" • #delmarvausa
