THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 28, 1996 TAG: 9605250065
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 71 lines
WHEN THE WEATHER turns hot, what do we do? I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.
And because we do, PBS producer Rick Sebak decided to spend months traveling across the United States for a 60-minute special, ``An Ice Cream Show,'' which airs Wednesday at 8 p.m. on WHRO.
Why do we love it so?
Read on.
Why are we so captivated by ice cream that we've made the Ben & Jerry's ice-cream plant in Waterbury the No. 1 tourist attraction in Vermont?
Read on.
It's a pity Sebak didn't tape in Norfolk because as everybody in these parts knows, the ice-cream cone was invented 92 years ago at an exposition in St. Louis by Abe Doumar, whose name is on the sign at the Monticello Avenue drive-in restaurant.
Sebak said that while doing research for ``An Ice Cream Show,'' he didn't come across Doumar's name but that doesn't mean it wasn't Doumar who invented the ice-cream cone. Ice cream's history has its muddy patches.
``There are many claims and counter claims about who invented what and where,'' said Sebak.
The PBS producer is pretty sure that ice cream as we know it was created in 1843 by an American woman named Nancy Johnson after slaving away on a hand-cranked freezer. ``We found that information in the patent office records,'' said Sebak, who is a graduate of the University of North Carolina.
Some historians believe the Chinese in the 12th or 13th century developed the principle for making ice cream and that the treat was introduced in Europe in the 1600s. George Washington loved it.
The Eskimo Pie came much later.
While the PBS producer skipped Norfolk on his great ice-cream quest, he did visit Carl's Creme Shakes and Sundaes in Fredericksburg and dropped in on the Eskimo Pie plant in Richmond, which has been in production since 1921.
The Eskimo Pie was a triumph of imagination and invention. Getting chocolate to stick to the ice cream to make an Eskimo Pie wasn't easy, said Sebak. It took much experimenting.
They had to call in the famous candy maker, Russell Stover, to help, according to PBS.
And now on the threshold of the 21st century, we have something even better and more inventive than the Eskimo Pie - the Nutty Buddy with ice cream, peanuts, a wafer-thin chocolate topping all in a cone!
What genius created the Nutty Buddy, I wonder?
It could have been somebody who graduated from the ice-cream short course at the college of agricultural sciences at Penn State U.
``They've been teaching people from around the world to make great ice cream for a very long time,'' said Sebak, who also narrates the PBS special.
What's the most unusual flavor he found in a country where we eat enough ice cream every year to fill the Grand Canyon? Was it licorice ice cream? Sauerkraut ice cream? No, it was prune danish ice cream, said the producer.
Tomato basil ice cream was another surprise, he said. He took to pumpkin-flavored ice cream.
``It tasted like carrot cake. Not too bad,'' said Sebak.
He really liked a flavor he found in New England - cranberries, walnuts and granola in a wonderfully creamy blend. In San Francisco, they like tea-flavored ice cream.
With more than 200 flavors to chose from, Americans still prefer vanilla. One in four customers ask for it, says PBS.
What a tough job. Sebak travels coast to coast tasting ice cream. Next time, call me, Rick. I'll join you.
He did accomplish his mission and discover why ice cream has such a hold on us, why we spend more than $3.5 billion a year on it. What is it that's so great about ice cream, Rick?
``Eating it makes you happy. You get a good feeling inside,'' he said.
That's the pistachios, Rick. by CNB