Comments on: The Great Ice Cream Cone Conundrum

By: Ice Cream Cones

Ice Cream Cones — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:30:22 +0000

Very nice idea. I am also wondering why sugar cones weren’t shaped like a waffle cone. I thinks it’s really nice too.

By: skzb

skzb — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:42:36 +0000

Duffy @ 18: I wondered why cup cones weren’t shaped like sugar cones.

By: Duffy Pratt

Duffy Pratt — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:01:37 +0000

Here’s my question: You remember when you were a kid that there were no waffle cones. But for as long as you can remember, you have been wondering why sugar cones weren’t shaped like waffle cones. What I wonder is how you came to wonder about this discrepancy before you ever saw a waffle cone?

One other observation: what you call the “cup cone” isn’t really a cone at all. The word cone refers to the shape. And cup cones aren’t shaped like cones at all. I defy you to get a parabola out of one. If Kepler or Newton had grown up with cup cones, we might still know nothing about the true nature of the orbits of the planets.

By: Howard Brazee

Howard Brazee — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:16:52 +0000

You appeared to know the answer to your question when you disregarded waffle cones. It’s all about tradition. If they didn’t have them when you were a kid, they don’t count.

Same thing happens with candy bars, which are very hard to gain significant market share. People introduce their children to the ones they liked when they were young.

By: Corrvin

Corrvin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:38:58 +0000

Well, you can fix the stable-when-set-down problem without a huge modification. Sugar (or waffle) cones are, basically, round at the top. Take one cone and slice off about the bottom third (ideally you’d do this pre-cooking). Invert it and set it down on the large round end. Take a second cone and fill it with ice cream. Stick it in the inverted cone. You now have an hourglass-shaped edible ice cream holder with the advantage that if you hold it from the covered point, it protects your hand from drips.

By: Lewis Himelhoch

Lewis Himelhoch — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:53:55 +0000

You could always buy a waffle cone maker and
use a round mold instead of a conic one. Probably a dowel would work. Then make a small round section to use as the base
and press them together. Or roll the cone leaving a hole in the bottom and attaching a flat base if you prefer the conic shape.

http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-838-Waffle-Express/dp/B00005KJX0

By: Chris B.

Chris B. — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:38:46 +0000

skzb @13:
I almost went with Dairy Queen, but I wasn’t sure they were global enough to be a universal example for cone discussions. For all I know there may be entire regions of your readership who’ve never set foot in a DQ.

By: skzb

skzb — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:28:51 +0000

Chris B. @ 12: Right, but I think of Dairy Queen instead of the Scottish place.

By: Chris B.

Chris B. — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:58:08 +0000

@9/10

If I’m reading it all correctly, “cup cone” refers to the kind of cone you’d get at McDonalds, with a flat bottom and a widened top; pale and crisp, rather than dark and sturdy. Essentially a wafer cone. I hate to use the M word in a discussion of delicious things but we’re in need of universal references and you can’t get much more universal than that.

As it happens, if I’m eating soft-serve I prefer cup cones, because as you force ice cream down to the bottom of the cone, you’re left, at the end, with one bite that is the pinnacle of decadence, an almost orgasmic delight, with the ice cream forced into the braces at the cone’s base. Biting it triggers an explosion of deliciousness.

For scooped ice cream, of course I would rather have a sugar cone: much sturdier, and since the cone will likely outlast the ice cream, it is important that it’s tasty in its own right.

By: Jeff Lowrey

Jeff Lowrey — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:08:30 +0000

It should be very possible to make something like a dip mold that would bake the waffle/sugar batter into a cup cone shape... A cold (to cause the batter to stick to the form) inner form that dipped into batter and dropped into a hot outer form that did the baking... remove the inner , invert... However, I'm fairly unsatisfied with *both* forms of cones. The sugar/waffle cones are too fractile and crunchy. They do not break well or chew nicely. And of course, the cup cones don't taste good nor hold up to the liquidity of the melty ice cream. Also, historically, the waffle cone has always been around. I was going to spout some urban legendry, but will punt to the slightly more reliable wikipedia.