Ice cream sandwich
Encyclopedia
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
, usually vanilla (but not necessarily), "sandwiched" between two biscuits/cookies or slices of cake, usually chocolate.
Australia
Within AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, ice cream sandwiches are given the commercial name of Giant Sandwich (recognizable by its distinct blue and pink wrapper), and Monaco Bar (recognizable by its gold and black metallic wrapper) in the Eastern states. Other varieties include Streets “Cookie”, Maxibon (with one-half ice cream sandwich) and Maxibon Cookie, and Pat and Stick’s Homemade range (recognizable by its circular shape).
Although not as widely popular as other ice cream desserts which are promoted more, the ice cream sandwich is considered a nostalgic favorite within Australia.
The original ice cream sandwich was commonly known as a 'cream between'. One purchased a small block of ice cream wrapped in paper and placed it between two wafers.
Also another famous Brand or Version sold in Australia, was called an "Eskimo Pie". The name Eskimo being used to illustrate it being so called popular with Eskimos and a pie being a snack food.
A product in Australia that is growing in popularity is the Cutie bar, an ice cream sandwich-like dessert which was invented by the Tofutti company in America. It is milk free and is also safe for kosher or halal diets, vegetarians and vegans. It is based on soy milk.
Singapore
Wafer ice cream is a type of ice cream popular in SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, often known as potong (cut) ice cream. It consists of two original wafers holding together a block of ice cream. Vendors are commonly found along Orchard Road
Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a road in Singapore that is the retail and entertainment hub of the city-state. It is regularly frequented by the local population as well as being a major tourist attraction...
, Chinatown
Chinatown, Singapore
Singapore's Chinatown is an ethnic neighbourhood featuring distinctly Chinese cultural elements and a historically concentrated ethnic Chinese population. Chinatown is located within the larger district of Outram....
and outside schools.
Common flavours offered include Ripple, Red bean
Azuki bean
The is an annual vine, Vigna angularis, widely grown throughout East Asia and the Himalayas for its small bean. The cultivars most familiar in north-east Asia have a uniform red color, but white, black, gray and variously mottled varieties are also known. Scientists presume Vigna angularis var...
, Yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
, Sweet corn, Durian
Durian
The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family . Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk...
, Honeydew
Honeydew (melon)
Honeydew is a cultivar group of the muskmelon, Cucumis melo Inodorus group, which includes crenshaw, casaba, Persian, winter, and other mixed melons.-Characteristics:...
, Peppermint, Chocolate, and Chocolate Chip.
Wafer ice cream vendors also sell the same blocks of ice cream on a slice of multicolored bread, a cone or a cup instead of sandwiched between wafers.
United Kingdom
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
an ice cream wafer, consisting of a small block of ice cream between two rectangular wafer biscuits, was a popular alternative to a cone up until the 1970s. Since then it has declined and is now rarely seen.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
In ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
they are known as 'sliders' or an ice cream wafer - usually served as vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two rectangle, chocolate wafers.
In Scotland one can buy sliders consisting of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two wafers. Then you can have a nougat wafer (Ice Cream sandwiched between a wafer and a nougat wafer). A nougat wafer is an Italian style meringue between two wafer biscuits and then the meringue encased in chocolate. Then there is the double nougat, Ice Cream sandwiched between two nougat wafers. The wafers are NOT covered in chocolate, only the edges. You would also get snowballs (Italian style meringue covered in chocolate and coconut) and served in cafe's with Ice cream, Oysters, made out of 2 wafer biscuits in the shape of a shell, with cream inside and chocolate and coconut on the outside to hold them together, They are prized open and ice cream added - delicious. The main manufacturer in Glasgow, and most people said the best, was the Verbest Cream Wafer Company which ceased after the manufacturer died in 1963.
United States
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, an ice cream sandwich is a slice of ice cream, commonly vanilla although other flavors are often used, sandwiched between two wafers, usually chocolate and rectangular. The current version was invented in 1945 by Jerry Newberg when he was selling ice cream at Forbes Field
Forbes Field
Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1971. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League franchise...
. Pictures from the Jersey Shore circa 1905. "On the beach, Atlantic City," 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company, show Ice Cream sandwiches were popular at 1c each .
Alternatives to wafers are often used, such as chocolate chip cookies. Many companies offer alternatives to the conventional ice cream sandwich as well, such as San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
's It's-It, who use oatmeal
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....
cookies and dip the sandwich in dark chocolate, New Jersey-based Rice Creams Inc. uses a combination of crispy marshmallow wafers and ice cream.
August 2nd is promoted in the United States as 'National Ice Cream Sandwich Day', although the origins of the designation are unclear and there appears to be no evidence to support any official 'national' designation.
External links
- Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream Sandwich in 1900 from word researcher Barry PopikBarry PopikBarry Popik is an American etymologist who is recognized as an expert on the origins of the terms "Big Apple", "Windy City," "hot dog," and many other food and slang terms; he is a consulting editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America and was described in The Wall Street...
.