The Original Milkshakes Were Missing A Critical Ingredient
Today they're considered both a beverage and a dessert for children of all ages, possibly best enjoyed in the summer but really, enjoyable no matter what time of year you happen to have it. Milkshakes can be enjoyed on their own, at the end of a meal, or with your favorite fast food meal combo.
They're such a big part of American food culture that they actually have a day a couple of designated days, including June 20, which has been deemed as National Vanilla Milkshake Day, and September 12, which is National Chocolate Milkshake Day, per National Today.
We even have the milkshake to thank for the now-indispensable kitchen blender, which was invented in 1922 by Stephen Poplawski, owner of a Wisconsin-based electric company, who wanted to make it easier to make the drink that had become so popular in soda fountain establishments around the country, per SoftSchools.com. Poplawski's invention featured a spinning set of blades on a stand, and a beverage container that allowing drinks to be mixed and poured out, per Thought Co.
Although milkshakes have been around for over a hundred of years, they haven't always been made in the same manner.
Milkshakes didn't have this ingredient until the early 20th century
The name "milkshake" was used to describe the drink for the first time in 1885 and South Florida Reporter says the first milkshakes were boozy adult drinks, often served with other alcoholic drinks. Before Poplawski's blender, restaurants were preparing milky beverages made with eggs, cream, and whiskey into a jar, by shaking the drink so it resembled eggnog, and then serving that, per National Today.
Milkshakes became more child-friendly at the beginning of the 20th century, when soda fountain restaurants began mixing crushed ice, milk, and sugar — as well as chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry syrup — in a container and then shaking, per Hamilton Beach, and malt was added to make the drink thicker, per Art of the Drink. But it wasn't until 1922 when an enterprising Walgreens employee named Ivar "Pop" Coulson thought to add vanilla ice cream and the drink became a hit, per The Dairy Alliance.
Incidentally, the milkshake didn't just inspire the invention of the blender. When a man named Fred Waring got hold of Poplawski's original creation, he thought to improve on it by tweaking its design. The result of that tinkering is the Waring blender, which is not only used in kitchens, but in medical laboratories too, per Thought Co.