Coca-Cola
John Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia made tonics and elixirs. While creating a remedy to cure headaches, relieve exhaustion and calm nerves he mixed coca leaves and cola nuts. This made a tasty syrup. When carbonated water was added accidentally (rather than regular water) Pemberton decided to market his creation as a fountain drink rather than a curative mixture.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
In the 1930s in Whitman, Massachusetts the beloved chocolate chip cookie was created. One day at the Toll House Inn, Ruth Wakefield ran out of her baking chocolate. She decided to chop a chocolate bar into small pieces, then added the pieces to some dough and history was made.
Ice Cream Cones
Okay, ice cream has been around for thousands of years. However, the cone is a recent taste treat. Now, there are several stories on how this creation came into being. The most well-known is the discovery at the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis. One day an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes. The vendor besides him was selling wafer thin Persian waffles. He rolled them up and offered them to the ice cream man. Another story dates a few years earlier when an Italian pushcart owner sold Italian ices on paper cones then he used pastry cones. He even applied for a patent in 1903.
Iced Tea
Yes, America was the birthplace of iced tea. In the summer of 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, the weather was swelteringly hot. You could imagine no one was too interested in drinking hot tea. Well, a creative young Englishman named Richard Blechynden took a chance and poured the tea into glasses with chunks of ice. The beverage was a big success.
Fudge
First one must know that fudge means “foolishness” or “nonsense”. In 1890 a candy maker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was making caramels when a mistake was made. Supposedly he exclaimed “Fudge”. However this mistake created a truly inspired sweet treat.
Popsicle
Invented by an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson in 1905. One day he was mixing soda powder with water (a popular drink back then), he left his mixture with the stirrer in it overnight on the porch. In the morning it was frozen-he like it. About 18 years later he stared selling Epsicles in seven fruit flavors. His kids called them Pop’s sicles hence Popsicles.
