Popsicle Math Facts

Today's summer facts are all about popsicles, and they come to us from Mobile-Cuisine.com and FillYourPlate.org!

• The inventor was Frank Epperson who, in 1905, left a mixture of powdered soda and water out on the porch, which contained a stir stick. That night, temperatures in San Francisco reached record low temperature. When he woke the next morning, he discovered that it had frozen to the stir stick, creating a fruit flavored ice treat that he named the epsicle. 18 years later he patented it and called it the Popsicle.
• Some stories claim Epperson chose the new name because his kids were always asking him to make them “Pop’s Sicles”. Other stories claim it was to let consumers know that the treat was made from soda pop.
• The first customers to buy Epsicles were Epperson’s classmates.
• The ice pop was introduced to the public at an Oakland ball for firemen in 1922.
• May 27th is National Grape Popsicle Day.
• August 26th is National Cherry Popsicle Day.
• The Popsicle company claims that its annual sales are over two billion and that its best-selling flavor is cherry.
• On June 22, 2005, Snapple tried to beat the existing Guinness Book of World Records entry of a 1997 Dutch 21-foot ice pop by attempting to erect a 25-foot ice pop in New York City. The 17.5 short tons of frozen juice that had been brought from Edison, New Jersey in a freezer truck melted faster than expected, dashing hopes of a new record. Spectators fled to higher ground as firefighters hosed away the kiwi-strawberry-flavored mess
• During the Second World War, an air force unit chose the Popsicle as one of the symbols of America and American life.