Ice cream enthusiasts have been visiting the Original Rainbow Cone for over 90 years in order to sample the dessert that bears the same name. It’s definitely worth taking another look, especially with such an amazing pedigree.
Five oddly different tastes make up the Original Rainbow Cone: chocolate, strawberry, pistachio, orange sherbet, and Palmer House. This bizarre architecture may initially cause some eyebrows to raise. However, the evidence is in the pudding, or ice cream in this case, as this rainbow delight is undeniably successful despite its peculiarity.
What flavor Frankenstein could conjure up such an enigmatic mixture?
History of the Rainbow Cone
When Joseph Sapp first fell in love with ice cream, he was just a young child. Joseph was raised as an orphan on a work farm in Ohio and never experienced luxury. However, that didn’t stop him from occasionally pinching pennies for a scoop of ice cream.
Unfortunately, at the time, Joseph had only two choices: vanilla or chocolate. And he was not content to have either one Joseph want those two tastes plus more.
After a few years, Joseph decided to start his own ice cream shop while working as a Buick technician. With an eye toward the route’s potential popularity, he and his wife Katherine selected a location in Chicago at 92nd and Western.
The Rainbow Cone’s initial days
Joseph had to make a few trial and error runs before he found the ideal flavor mix. He sold his first Rainbow Cones from a little ice cream parlor on the 92nd. Since the early version of Chicago only went as far south as the Bridgeport region, Joseph and Katherine’s ice cream store could not count on heavy traffic from the city. A significant cemetery was situated nearby on 95th Street, and many people who visited the cemetery would stop by for a cone on their way home.
After the Rainbow Cone became well-known, they outgrew the little ice cream stand in just four years. It’s the new location that the Sapps built across the street.
The Rainbow Cone’s rise was unstoppable, even throughout the Great Depression. And the Original Rainbow Cone became a communal hub when the battle eventually broke out. In order to keep guests informed about news updates while they munched, Joseph even constructed a shortwave radio in the backyard.
The Rainbow Cone flourished on Chicago’s south side in spite of hardship. And the odd cone’s popularity expanded along with the metropolis.
Today’s Original Rainbow Cone
The son of Joseph, started to take control in the 1960s and 1970s. Robert grew up in the home behind the store, where his children also worked in the family company. Lynn, Robert’s daughter, purchased the company fully in 1986 and has been running it ever since.
Following her takeover, Lynn popularized the Rainbow Cone and made it a mainstay at festivals such as Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza. She even brought the Rainbow Cake to the world.
However, the Rainbow Cone hasn’t altered at all over this time. The Sapp family has been serving the same ice cream that Joseph created in 1926 for ninety years. And for many more years to come, they will keep selling that delectable ice cream.
At the Original Rainbow Cone, you won’t find a pot of gold waiting for you, but you’ll still be grinning.
Interesting facts about the rainbow cone
One of nature’s most enchanting and fascinating phenomena is the rainbow. It’s difficult, no matter your age, to look at a rainbow without experiencing the same feeling of amazement and wonder that comes from seeing something genuinely unique.
For thousands of years, people have believed that rainbows bring good fortune. While it’s acceptable to wish for a little luck when you see one, there is also some hard rainbow science that’s worth learning about!
We hope you’ll find these eight incredible facts about rainbows as fascinating as we do.
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A rainbow can never be reached at its conclusion
We’ll save you the effort if you’re the kind that chases after a rainbow every time you see one: you can never truly reach the end of one! A rainbow is predicated on how the observer (you) and the light source are oriented, therefore as you move, the rainbow will follow suit.
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A circular rainbow is seen in the sky
The term “bow” refers to the traditional semi-circular rainbow, which is the only one that can be seen while on the ground. However, you can genuinely see a rainbow as a whole circle when you’re on an airplane and look down below.
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A rainbow is less likely to appear in the winter
Why is it that you are less likely to witness a rainbow in the winter? due to the snow! When light passes through a spectrum, which is typically a group of raindrops, it breaks up and is refracted into distinct hues, creating a rainbow.
However, during the winter, the higher atmosphere experiences freezing temperatures, which causes raindrops to turn into snow. As a result, a rainbow cannot form and the light cannot travel through the drop.
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When light is reflected twice in a raindrop, it forms a double rainbow
Have you ever seen two rainbows in one? When light is reflected in a raindrop twice, it creates a double rainbow, which appears as two separate reflections coming from opposite directions.
The secondary rainbow, which will be somewhat higher and fainter in hue than the primary rainbow, will actually have its colors reversed. Keep this in mind the next time you witness this incredibly interesting phenomenon for yourself. Rather than the typical “Roy G. Biv”
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In the solar system, Earth is the only planet having rainbows
Yes, there are always gas storms on Jupiter, and there might even be some frozen water on Mars. However, as far as we are aware, Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has the ability to produce rainbows. This is thus because only Earth experiences steady liquid precipitation and direct sunlight.
Scientists think that there might be liquid methane rainstorms on Titan, the moon of Saturn, but the atmosphere is so cloudy that it’s improbable that enough sunlight gets through the methane droplets to form a rainbow.
Another interesting fact: every year, over 1,000 tons of diamonds fall from the sky onto the surface of Saturn.
