When I was growing up in Pittsburgh in the 50s, one of my favorite summer desserts (besides a Klondike from Isaly’s) was a piece of cantaloupe with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. My grandparents called it a Boston Cooler, and we had it often. When I looked it up, that’s apparently the name of a milkshake like drink from Detroit made with ginger ale and vanilla ice cream. HO thoughts? Will the true Boston Cooler stand up?!
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The only Boston desserts I know are Boston pancakes and Boston cream pies. Never heard of a Boston cooler. Interesting concept.
I’ve never heard the term Boston Cooler. But cantaloupe and vanilla ice cream sounds delicious!
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I found this:
A “Boston cooler” means several things:
—Vanilla ice cream in a cantaloupe
In the Boston (MA) Journal of 1901, this Boston cooler of vanilla ice cream inside a cantaloupe was described as the “latest idea.” This appears to be the first “Boston Cooler” and it appears to have originated in Boston.
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Last year we gave casual acquaintances of ours a few ripe cantaloupes (just between me and you because we were overrun with them🙂) and they were thrilled to pieces. They loved halving a cantaloupe and topping it with vanilla ice cream. I had never heard of such a thing. My first thought was it was a slightly different take on Dreamsicles. So now it has a name.
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We had this in the 1950’s as a “fancy” dessert in the summer!! (Mass.)
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