banana split

Banana Split

A traditional banana split as served at Cabot's Ice Cream and Restaurant in Newtonville, Massachusetts.
Origin
Place of origin	United States
Region or state	Northeast Region
Creator(s)	Multiple claims
Dish details
Course served	Dessert
Serving temperature	Cold
Main ingredient(s)	Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream Bananas Pineapple topping Chocolate syrup Strawberry topping Nuts Whipped cream Maraschino cherries
Variations	Multiple

A banana split is an ice cream-based dessert. In its classic form it is served in a long dish called a "boat". A banana is cut in two lengthwise (hence the split) and laid in the dish. Variations abound, but the classic banana split is made with scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream served in a row between the split banana. Pineapple topping is spooned over the vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup over the chocolate, and strawberry topping over the strawberry. It is garnished with crushed nuts, whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

History

David Evans Strickler, a 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, who enjoyed inventing sundaes at the store's soda fountain, invented the banana-based triple ice cream sundae in 1904.^[1] The sundae originally cost 10 cents, twice the price of other sundaes, and caught on with students of nearby Saint Vincent College. News of the sundae spread by word-of-mouth by students, through correspondence, and at professional conventions.^[2] Strickler went on to buy the pharmacy, naming it Strickler's Pharmacy.^[3] The city of Latrobe celebrated the 100th anniversary of the invention of the banana split in 2004, and in the same year the National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA) certified the city as its birthplace.

A year or two later, historians say, a Boston ice cream entrepreneur came up with the same sundae, with one minor flaw — he served his banana splits with the bananas unpeeled until he discovered that ladies preferred them peeled.^[4]

Town fathers in Wilmington, Ohio, claim their city, southeast of Dayton, is the birthplace of the popular treat^{[citation needed]}. In 1907, restaurant owner Ernest Hazard wanted to attract students from Wilmington College during the slow days of winter. He staged an employee contest to come up with a new ice cream dish. When none of his workers were up to the task, he split a banana lengthwise, threw it into an elongated dish and created his own dessert. The town commemorates the event each June with a Banana Split Festival.

As served at the Hilton Chicago (2007).

Walgreens is credited with spreading the popularity of the banana split. The early drug stores operated by Charles Rudolph Walgreen in the Chicago area adopted the banana split as a signature dessert. Fountains in the stores proved to be drawing cards, attracting customers who might otherwise have been just as satisfied having their prescriptions filled at some other drug store in the neighborhood.^[1]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Banana split

• History of individual ingredients in banana split