Penny lick
A penny lick was a small glass for serving ice cream, used in London, England, and elsewhere in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Street vendors would sell the contents of the glass for one penny. The glass was usually made with a thick glass base and a shallow depression on top in which the ice cream was placed. The customer would lick clean the glass and return it to the vendor, who would reuse it.[1]
The thickness of the glass made the contents appear greater than they were, often disappointing the customer, and the glasses commonly broke or were stolen.[2]
The penny lick was banned in London after 1899 due to concerns about the spread of disease, particularly cholera and tuberculosis, as the glass was often not washed between customers.[3] Questions of hygiene led Italo Marchiony to introduce a pastry cup in New York City in 1896[citation needed], which he patented in 1903.[4] The waffle ice cream cone rapidly became popular soon afterwards, displacing the penny lick.[5][6]
See also
[edit]- Hokey pokey
- Kōrikoppu, Japanese old unique glassware for shaved ice
- Carlo Gatti
- Agnes Marshall
References
[edit]- ^ Ice to see you, Manchester Evening News, 27 December 2006, retrieved 1 June 2025,
In Victorian times ice cream was sold in small quantities. Prior to the invention of wafer biscuits a small amount of ice cream was placed onto a licking glass, this was known as the 'penny lick', the customer would lick the glass clean and hand it back to the seller for re-use to the next customer.
- ^ "Food & Drink". Museum of Childhood. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 8 September 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
The ice cream still often came as a 'Penny Lick' at this date, a tiny portion to be licked out of a small serving glass which was (at best) wiped between customers. This was recognised as being notoriously unhygienic even then, and because of the thickness of the glass, often gave the customer disappointingly less than it appeared to. Then from the vendor's point of view the glasses were also liable to break or be stolen. No wonder that edible ice cream cones (first patented by Italo Marciony of New York in 1903) were such a success.
- ^ Galloway, James A (22 January 2000). "Great fare of London". The Lancet. 355 (9200): 323–324. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)00012-X. S2CID 53217567. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
Later in the 19th century, a cheap and popular outdoor treat was the "penny-lick" of ice-cream, which was served in shallow bowls that were not washed between customers; these were banned after 1899, because of a perceived link with the spread of disease, including tuberculosis.
- ^ Quinzio, Jeri (2009). Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making. Volume 25 of California studies in food and culture. University of California Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-520-24861-8. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
In 1903, Italo Marchiony, "a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan," received a patent for a mold that made ten ice cream cups at a time.15 His grandson, William Marchiony, reported that Italo Marchiony had started out by selling lemon ices from a pushcart on Wall Street. He had wrapped them in paper cones so he wouldn't have to wash out penny-lick glasses. Later, he experimented with making confectionary cones. They became so popular that he invented and patented a machine to make them in quantity.
- ^ "Video: Penny licks—the sinister history of a sweet treat - The American Ceramic Society". The American Ceramic Society. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
- ^ "Penny Lick Glasses". Scarborough Museums and Galleries. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
The buyer would eat the ice cream then hand the glass back to the vendor, who would wipe it not-terribly-clean for the next person. This lack of hygiene, possibly coupled with the fact that the basic ingredients for ice cream – eggs, milk, cream – were not pasteurised in those days, meant that this little luxury item was responsible for many gastroenterital problems and eventually led, in the early 20th century, to the introduction of the edible waffle cone that we know and love today.
External links
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