Did you know that Milton Hershey tried to make an ice cream out of mashed potato?
The chocolate and caramel entrepreneur Milton Snavely Hershey (1857-1945), most famous for producing America’s first milk chocolate bar in 1900, was an avid inventor and spent much of his time experimenting with new flavours, chocolates and concepts throughout his confectionery career.
Known for his less than scientific approach, Milton’s method of confectionery experimentation often involved having a unique idea then dabbling with it by adding a bit of this and a dash of that, trying all sorts of production methods and materials. This ‘mad inventor’ style of working resulted in some rather interesting formulas…
Mashed potato, sweet potato, oatmeal and cream of wheat were just some of the ingredients Milton thought would create a fabulous milk-free ice cream. During the 1940’s, he was concerned that the outbreak of war would result in food rationing, and so he endeavored to create his own solution before the problem arose.
The final product was named ‘Victory Whip’ and contained ingredients such as rice flour, peanut oil, sugar, salt and seaweed, and was sold in three flavours; chocolate, vanilla and raspberry.
Not only was it surprisingly tasty, it was also half the price of regular ice cream! But despite its local success, Hershey decided not to launch the product further as he did not want to risk aggravating the local dairy farmers – many of which supplied the Hershey factory directly.
Legend has it that when the Pennsylvanian secretary of agriculture was sent to investigate this cheap, milk-less ice cream, he was so impressed with Victory Whip that he bought three gallons of it and served it at a party where no one guessed that it was a ‘fake’ product!