August 26th is a day to celebrate America’s favorite Popsicle flavor! It is National Cherry Popsicle Day!
For most adults, Popsicle ice pops are a sweet reminder of long summer days and nights riding bikes and building forts and cooling down with a refreshing frozen treat. In Southern Arizona we are lucky enough to have temperatures warm enough to enjoy Popsicle ice pops year round but come August, when the temperatures are in the triple digits, they are an impeccable way to help beat the heat.
Stock up on some of these sweet treats and take a little walk down memory lane, and as you do take a look at these 11 Fun Facts about the Popsicle.
- The Popsicle was invented on accident by an 11 year old boy name Frank Epperson in 1905. Epperson was mixing powdered soda pop and water on his porch and accidentally left the mixture on the porch overnight. The next morning he discovered the mixture frozen around its stirring stick. He pulled out the frozen mass and quickly discovered that he had created a new kind of treat. He called it the “Epperson icicle.”
- The summer following his discovery, Epperson made his frozen treats and sold them around his neighborhood for around five cents apiece. He shortened the name to “Epsicle.”
- In 1924, when he was 30 years old, Epperson renamed his discovery to be “Popsicle” to show that they were made from soda pop. He then got his treats patented.
- Popsicle ice pops were originally marketed as “a frozen drink on a stick.”
- Cherry, root beer, lemon, banana, orange, grape, and watermelon are the seven original Popsicle flavors. There are no records of Epperson’s childhood flavors.
- Today the most popular flavor is Cherry.
- The first “Ice Cream Truck” driver was a man in Nebraska who went around selling Popsicle ice pops to children in a horse drawn cart.
- Popsicle sticks are made from birch wood.
- Twin ice pops were invented during the Great Depression so that two children could share and ice pop for only a nickel.
- There are more than two billion Popsicle ice pops sold every year.
- Branching out from its humble roots, there are more than 25 variations of Popsicle today.
What is your favorite ice pop flavor?