Archive for July, 2008

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WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPRINKLES AND JIMMIES?

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

That question started in the comments to our June 20 entry and we thought we’d continue the debate here. We also added a new poll (at right). Do you eat ice cream straight out of the box? Go ahead, be honest.

So what IS the difference between sprinkles and jimmies? Actually they’re the same thing, it just depends on where you’re from. If you’re a resident of Philadelphia, Boston and many parts of New England, you might ask for jimmies if you want those tiny cylindrical candies on your ice cream. New Yorkers and a majority of other people call them sprinkles.

So where does the jimmies name come from? Popular legend has it that the Just Born candy company in Bethlehem, PA began producing sprinkles in the 1930s and, since a gentleman named Jimmy ran the sprinkles machine, the product was naturally nicknamed after its maker.

Some people maintain that sprinkles are multicolored and jimmies specifically refer to the chocolate variety. But no matter what you call them or how you use them, they seem to make everything taste a little better. Here in Lancaster County, we call them sprinkles, but we’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the great sprinkles vs. jimmies debate!

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A TASTE OF LANCASTER COUNTY: THE AMISH

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Each Wednesday throughout National Ice Cream Month, we’ll take a closer look at a part of our home, Lancaster County. This week’s “Taste of Lancaster County” entry is about our Amish neighbors. Each Wednesday, we’ll also give away a Lancaster County prize to one commenter chosen at random. Good luck!

Drive through the country roads of Lancaster County and you will most likely come upon a horse and buggy clip clopping down the road. The horse and buggy is a familiar sight and sound to those of us living in Lancaster County; but for the thousands of visitors to the area the horse and buggy serves as a glimpse into the lifestyle and practices of a group of people called the Amish. Because of its large concentration of Amish, Lancaster County has become synonymous with Amish cooking, crafts, furniture, and amazing quilts.

The Amish are an Anabaptist religious group closely related to the Mennonites and Brethren. The Lancaster County Amish are easily identifiable because of the plain, often homemade clothes that they wear. They customarily shun usage of modern amenities such as TV, electricity, and automobiles. Despite the fact that they don’t have telephones (or maybe because of that) they often have incredibly close-knit communities in which the local children all attend a one-room schoolhouse. The Amish moved to America from the border of Switzerland and Germany to escape religious persecution in the early 1700’s. They often speak Pennsylvania Dutch, a German Dialect common to Lancaster County. While there are a number of Amish Settlements across the United States, Lancaster County has the second largest settlement of them in the world.

This week’s Lancaster County prize is a package that contains a few samplings from the Amish community, including a Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook and a Lancaster County Calendar (among other items). We’ll choose one comment at random from this post to receive the gift! We hope the items will give you a glimpse into the simple lives of our neighbors, so the next time you pick up a bowl of Turkey Hill ice cream, you can sit back and let your mind wander off to what life is like in Lancaster County.

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HAPPY NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH!

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Let the celebration begin! Like we said last week, we’re turning the Ice Cream Journal into party central for National Ice Cream Month. We’ll feature a new entry every day, Monday through Friday, and we’re giving away some great prizes. Why? Because we love ice cream!

Each Wednesday we’ll give away a Lancaster County-themed prize and at the end of the month we’ll give away our biggest Ice Cream Journal prize ever: a one-night stay at a local Lancaster County bed & breakfast AND a personally guided tour of Turkey Hill Dairy by everyone’s favorite ice cream expert, Ernie! How will we choose the winners? The same we always do – by selecting comments chosen at random, so feel free to comment as often as you’d like!

With that, here’s a little history about National Ice Cream Month, as reported last year on the Ice Cream Journal:

National Ice Cream Month is a relatively new “official” celebration, even though most people have been unofficially celebrating ice cream during the hot summer months for more than a century. It all started in 1984, when President Ronald Reagan declared July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day. As many of you may remember, Reagan was famous for his love of jelly beans, so it makes perfect sense that he’d be the president to pay homage to ice cream. At right is a portrait of the former president made from over 14,000 jelly beans!

P.S. – According to this website, today is “National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day.” That means you have to try something unusual (sorry vanilla). May we suggest our new Limited Edition Junior Mints or some Chocolate and Coconut Duetto?

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