In Praise of The Cone

 It's almost summer and that means one thing - ice creamed scooped and piled into all sorts of cones. Yet where would the icy treat without its' sturdy base? The cone is just as important as the treat itself as the Joy Baking Company knows

Regular contributor,cookbook writer and chef, Priya Krishna wrote about this amazing company in today's New York Times Food section.Joy Cones have been around since 1918 when two Lebanese immigrants,Albert George and his brother-in-law Thomas J. Thomas, started the company in Brookfield, Ohio.It nearly went bankrupt in 1943 thanks to a fire breaking out in the factory.. Joe George, father of the current owner,David  took over that year and focused on building proprietary or commercial ovens to bake thousands of cones. Within five years the company became profitable. Now Joy handles all the big companies from Dairy Queen to Mister Softee. Even local, privately owned ice cream shops use Joy. The company sells three types, cake , sugar and the ever popular waffle. The recipes for all three are simple. The cake cone is made from batter of water flour and sugar. Tapioca flour is added to give the cone it's sturdiness and absorbent like quality. The sugar and waffle ones have brown sugar added for the rich tan color.

Is there competition? There is from Keebler  but they mostly distribute to stores. Most home chefs use them to create cones. There are some ice cream shop owners like Kristine Tonlonow of the Konery in Brooklyn who have different ideas. When she started her business in 2014  she looked at the cones and their blandness along with their uniformity. She felt that there should be different flavors to match or compliment the creamery's variety of flavors. The cones should be as exciting as the ice cream itself. Her cones come in bright colors and even brighter flavors like orange Creamsicle and salted blue corn along with gingerbread and peppermint.. They do cost three to four times more than Joy's. However stores like Whole Foods and theme parks are buying them along with independent shops like Malai Ice cream in Cobble Hill Brooklyn. Some ice cream shop owners such as  Washington D.C.s Susan Soorenko feels the flavored ones can be a distraction. Customers have enough choices and may not like their eventual option. She'll stick with the classic Joy ones instead which let the flavors shine.

Joy's cones are one of the joys of summer. They're a part of the whole ice cream on a hot day experience. They make those sugar , cake and waffle cones for warm weather memories.