Popsicles

First Mention:1905

Use: Summer Comfort

It was called a frozen beverage on a stick and to this day we all love eating popsicles from school cafeterias to the backyard grill. It may come as a surprise/or not that this frozen treat was crafted purely out of sheer luck.

In 1905, an 11 year old boy named Frank Epperson was mixing powdered flavors with water to make soda out in the back porch. For some reason Epperson decided to leave the concoction outside that night. Luckily, temperatures reached an all-time low for San Francisco that night and when Epperson went out to get his soda, he was shocked to find the drink frozen to his mixing stick.

Later in 1923, a full 18 years following this accident, Epperson introduced frozen pop on a stick to people at Neptune Beach. Noticing the quick and wide acceptance of the good, Epperson applied for a patent and soon named it the “Epsicle Pop.” It was not until later that he renamed the snack the “Popscile.” (Get it pop –> soda) By the way, reason why some Popsicles had two sticks in them was so that they could be split between a couple.

Two years after the Neptune Beach success Epperson sold the rights to the Popscile to Joe Lowe Company which later in 1989 sold the rights to Good Humor, a subsidiary of Unilever which still holds the rights. The companies quickly introduced Popsciles with “natural flavors” and no more pop.

So a lucky childhood experiment gone wrong resulted in a delicious treat we all love and enjoy today, who would of thought. But still, the idea of eating a popsicle with well pop is a bit unsettling to me.