“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Rah, rah, rah!”
It was the 1920s and electricity and refrigeration had just made ice cream, a rare and exotic dish for centuries among the wealthy, available to the public. All across the United States, soda parlors were popping up.
Howard Johnson’s commercial slogan “I scream…” took the nation by storm as his 28 flavors were franchised across the land. So popular were ice cream sodas that some cities banned them from Sunday sales as being “too merry for the Christian Day of rest.” In response, the Chocolate Sundae was born. For the ice cream parlor owners, Sunday became a special day for dishes of vanilla ice cream (Americans’ favorite) drowned in fruit and chocolate.
The history of ice is unique and spans centuries.
Cyrus the Great of Persia records this sweet treat mixed with fruit as early as 500 BC. Later, the Tang dynasty in China (AD 618–907) were early producers of ice cream—a delicacy of crushed ice, salt, and sweet milk—engaging a staff of 94 ice men. Ice cream making was a closely guarded secret and the knowledge of how to make it was “a meal ticket” for life.
In 1671, guests of King Charles II were treated at the Feast of St. George with strawberries and iced cream, kept cool with ice imported from Norway. The first public recipe occurred in England, 1718. Even in the colonies, Governor Thomas Bladen enjoyed strawberry ice cream, as noted in 1744. Dolly Madison served it at the inauguration of her husband and for President Thomas Jefferson, it was his favorite dessert.
In 1920, the Good Humor Ice Cream truck, with its music and bells cruising through neighborhoods, had kids and adults chasing it for an afternoon treat. Ice cream trucks are rare today. And so are soda fountains, but ice cream still remains the global top treat. Chocolate, the first commercial flavor, is the worldwide favorite, although Americans still prefer vanilla.
Maryland is an agricultural state. It has about 40,000 living dairy cows spread across 310 dairy farms. To link Maryland farmers to consumers, the Maryland Department of Agriculture established a Maryland Ice Cream Trail.
Twelve years ago, the economy was bouncing back from a downfall when Chuck Frye of Rocky Point Creamery approached Maryland’s Agricultural Secretary, then Buddy Hance. Frye wanted to highlight the state’s dairy industry. Four generations of Fryes had farmed Rocky Point, located in Tuscarora in Washington County, since 1883 when 10 Holstein cows began producing milk for Marylanders moving west. Today, 175 Holsteins are a part of Maryland’s dairy cow population, and Washington County is the center of the industry with over 60 farms. Overall, Maryland produces 876 million pounds of milk annually.
To support his family’s milk business, Frye added a creamery in 2012 and produced 80 flavors of ice cream from grass-fed, zero-antibiotic cows. Support for Maryland farmers, more so, was on Frye’s mind. It was through his conversation with Hance that Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Trail was born.
From May through September and from Washington County to Worcester on the Eastern Shore, ice cream lovers can explore Maryland farmland and the creameries that produce the delicious treat to support their milk cow business.
With the beginning of the ice cream trail, Maryland creameries also discovered the opportunity to educate the public about farming, further linking farmers with consumers. Summer day camps, art festivals, and weekend music performances enhance the dairy business.
South Mountain Creamery, a 3,300-acre farm in Middletown, has 500 dairy cows. The creamery encourages the public to visit and publishes a self-guided tour booklet to promote connections between our earth and our food. The creamery also sells beef from its grass-fed cattle, along with other farm-fresh goods, such as eggs. At the Pringle Family Farm in Glen Arm, founded in 1895, visitors can have a “cow picnic”—a sunset dinner in the pasture with cows grazing nearby.
The dairy industry is the one of the largest commercial agricultural industries in Maryland. When thinking of Maryland agriculture, Eastern Shore tomatoes, cantaloupes, and strawberries come to mind but ice cream is now a major agricultural success across the state. So, if ice cream—that exciting and rare dessert up to 100 years ago—is your favorite, branch out and discover the freshest made confections along Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Trail.
Visit marylandsbest.maryland.gov for the full details about Maryland’s Best Ice Cream Trail, the 12 participating farms, how visit each, and earn special prizes, plus more information about the state’s dairy industry.
