Hokey pokey (ice cream)
 Honeycomb ice cream with toffee and sauce | |
| Type | Ice cream |
|---|---|
| Course | Dessert |
| Place of origin | New Zealand |
| Region or state | Dunedin, Otago[1] |
| Main ingredients | Vanilla ice cream and honeycomb toffee |
Hokey pokey is a flavour of ice cream in New Zealand consisting of plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee. Hokey pokey is the New Zealand term for honeycomb toffee.[2][3][4][5] The original recipe until around 1980 consisted of solid toffee, but in a marketing change, Tip Top decided to use small balls of honeycomb toffee instead.
It is the second-most popular ice cream flavour behind vanilla in New Zealand,[6] and is a frequently cited example of Kiwiana.[7] It is also exported to Japan, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.[8]
Origins and etymology
The term hokey pokey has been used in reference to honeycomb toffee in New Zealand since the late 19th century. The origin of this term, in reference to honeycomb specifically, is not known with certainty, and it is not until the mid-20th century that hokey pokey ice cream was created.[9]
Coincidentally, "hokey pokey" was a slang term for ice cream in general in the 19th and early 20th centuries in several areas—including New York City[10] and parts of Great Britain—specifically for the ice cream sold by street vendors or "hokey pokey men". The vendors, said to be mostly of Italian descent, supposedly used a sales pitch or song involving the phrase "hokey pokey", for which several origins have been suggested. One such song in use in 1930s Liverpool was "Hokey pokey penny a lump, that's the stuff to make ye jump".[11]
The term hokey pokey likely has multiple origins. One of these is the expression "hocus-pocus", which is possibly the source of the name hokey pokey in New Zealand. As a general name for ice cream outside New Zealand, it may be a corruption of one of several Italian phrases. According to "The Encyclopedia of Food" (published 1923, New York) hokey pokey (in the U.S.) is "a term applied to mixed colors and flavors of ice cream in cake form". The encyclopedia says the term originated from the Italian phrase oh che poco, 'oh how little'. Alternative possible derivations include other similar-sounding Italian phrases: for example ecco un poco, 'here is a (little) piece'.[citation needed]
Related uses
- Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Man) (1975) is a song by Richard & Linda Thompson.
- Hokey Pokey is an ice cream parlour in the Prenzlauer Berg section of Berlin, Germany.[12]
Notes
- ^ "Hokey Pokey Ice Cream". 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- ^ "Hokey Pokey" Archived 2011-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, Recipe, Evening Post, 1927
- ^ Chelsea Sugar – Hokey Pokey, Chelsea.co.nz, archived from the original on 26 April 2011, retrieved 28 October 2010
- ^ "Hokey Pokey – New Zealand Kids Recipe at KiwiWise". Kiwiwise.co.nz. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "Popular Kiwi recipes – pavlova, anzac biscuits, roast lamb, pikelets etc". Kiwianatown.co.nz. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "The New Zealand ice cream industry". Nzicecream.org.nz. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "Kiwiana". Christchurch City Libraries. 4 May 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Masters, Catherine (27 December 2001). "It's a love affair in a cone". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Steyl, Louisa (8 March 2024). "'A fluke': How hokey pokey ice cream got its start". www.stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ http://www.littlebookroom.com/historicshopsNY.html Archived 2006-04-12 at the Wayback Machine Littlebookroom.com
- ^ "eye" witness account: Margaret Grace Jones b.1924
- ^ "Ice cream patisserie Hokey Pokey". Archived from the original on 20 May 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.