Ice
Cream -> Ice
Cream Flavors -> Banana Split Ice Cream
Banana Split Ice Cream
A banana split ice
cream is an ice cream-based dessert. In its classic
form it is served in a long dish called a "boat".
It was reportedly invented in 1904 by David E. Strickler a
1906 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. A banana is
cut in two lengthwise (hence the split) and laid in the dish.
Variations abound, but the classic banana split is made with
scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry
ice cream served in a row on the split banana.
Pineapple topping is spooned over the vanilla
ice cream ,
chocolate syrup over the chocolate, and strawberry topping
over the strawberry. It is garnished with crushed nuts, whipped
cream and maraschino cherries. 
Who invented the banana split?
Strickler was a drugstore soda jerk in Latrobe,
Pennsylvania. The city has been celebrating the 100th anniversary
of the invention of the banana split in 1904. Strickler is
credited as the inventor of the banana-based triple
ice cream sundae in to Michael Turback's
The Banana Split Book.
A year or two later, historians say, a Boston
ice-cream entrepreneur came up with the same
sundae--with one minor flaw. He served his banana splits with
the bananas unpeeled until he discovered that ladies preferred
them peeled.
Town fathers in Wilmington, Ohio, claim their
city southeast of Dayton is the birthplace of the popular
treat. They say 1907 was the year and restaurant owner Ernest
Hazard was the man. The town commemorates the event each June
with a Banana Split Festival.
According to town lore, Hazard wanted to
attract fickle students from Wilmington College during the
slow days of winter. He staged an employee contest to come
up with a new ice
cream dish. When none of his workers was up to
the task, he split a banana lengthwise, threw it into an elongated
dish and created his own dessert.
Walgreen's is credited with spreading the
popularity of the banana split. Charles Walgreen adopted the
banana split as the signature dessert in the chain of drugstores
he founded in Chicago.
Dairy Queen alone sells about
25 million banana splits each year.
