A Geo-Historical Survey of Chocolate Sandwiches
The speculative history of the whoopie pie got me thinking about things that resemble whoopee pies here in the States. I realized that there are quite a lot of them, and all are quite old by popular food standards. Indeed I discovered that the whoopee pie, possibly invented in Pennsylvania and later popularized in Boston and Maine in the 1930’s…
…was a contemporary of the Moon Pie, created in 1929 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Both were preceded by the Oreo, created in 1912 in New York City…
…which itself was preceded by the ice cream sandwich, popularized around 1905 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
All of which means…what exactly? Maybe nothing, however it does demonstrate that idea of frosting or cream sandwiched inside some sort of chocolate-flavored carrying device is an idea that goes back quite a long way in the Eastern US, well before even the earliest whoopies are thought to have been made.
These post on whoopie pies have been fascinating. My mom has been making these since I was little and I never realized they were the same thing as the whoopie pies that were suddenly hip again. I’m going to go make some. Also, the history and science is great. Thanks for your work!
I too, am making these this weekend. How does one store these whopping whoopies, assuming they don’t all get eaten on the first viewing?
That’s one of the beauties of heritage frosting. It keeps well for days at room temperature! Wrap then loosely in plastic to prevent staling, that’s all you need to do!
– Joe