Reason why 99 ice creams are called that actually has nothing to do with the cost
Everyone loves a refreshing treat on a warm day and what better option to go for than a cone of 99 soft serve ice cream.
The summertime classic, which often comes garnished with a Mr Whippy flake or raspberry sauce, can be found at pretty much any ice cream stand at your nearest park or seaside town.
The frozen treat was also the flagship product sold by ice cream vans up and down the country - truly a throwback to simpler times.
But have you ever wondered about the origins of the unique name of this ice cream?
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Ask anyone in the UK what the name 99 ice cream or 99 Flake means and the answer you'll most likely get will be money.
Mistakenly referred to as a 99p ice cream, people have long assumed the name was linked to the price of the frozen treat.
In fact, the 99 Flake has often been compared to the Freddo as a barometer of inflation, with all of us knowing someone who swears blind that they remember a time when the ice cream cost less than a pound.
The average price of a 99 Flake is on average between £2.50 to (shudder) £4 in price, depending on location, with some people claiming to have forked out as much as £5 for a single cone.
So if the name isn't related to the price, where the hell does the moniker 99 come from?
The answer can be traced all the way back to the time when soft-serve ice cream first reached our shores early on in the 20th century.
One claim behind the name is that soft-serves were originally sold at 99 Portobello High Street in Portobello, Edinburgh, by a man named Stefano Arcari. Another address-based claim traces back to Manchester to the ice cream shop Dunkerley's, which was based at 99 Wellington Street in Gorton, Greater Manchester.
Another explanation behind the unique name was again connects the ice cream to its Italian heritage.
Ice cream had been brought over the UK by Italian immigrants in the late 18th century. Previously a luxury only enjoyed by the wealthy due to the costs involved in production, the immigrants were able to transform the treat into a popular street food item.
As for the name, the number 99 was linked to an elite guard called the 99'ers during the days of the Italian monarchy.
The name then became a symbol of anything considered elite in the country, with ice cream merchants later using the number to claim the snack's elite status.
Although it's impossible to definitively confirm which of the two theories is true, the stories are certainly an interesting piece of trivia.
Topics: Food And Drink, Weird
Brenna Cooper