I am not an olympic runner, but from the ages 4-8 (and even now at 18) whenever I hear the blissful sound of an ice cream truck, I become one. Running for the gold metal: a cone with soft serve and rainbow sprinkles.
I remember the first time I went with my grandpa to Crescent Ridge Dairy bar, my mom's favorite childhood ice cream spot. I was flabbergasted at the fact that they didn't have sprinkles, but "jimmies" in Massachusetts. At first, I felt as though I was betraying my New York sprinkles but after giving these chocolatey shavings a try, I knew I would only be betraying myself if I didn't take a dozen boxes to go. As I finished my 3rd box of jimmies on the car ride home, I started thinking "who invented jimmies?"
The Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, and Deja vu are some of the world's top unsolved phenomenon, and sprinkles are no different. In England, they are called "hundreds-and-thousands." Probably because the world "sprinkles" itself wasn't long enough to flatter an english accent or maybe because that's what's stuck down your arms after eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.
Now lets take a step back and look into the origin of sprinkles. Some say
Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway , is the glass half empty or half full, and Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar are some of the world's top unsolved phenomenon, and sprinkles are no different. In England, they are called "hundreds-and-thousands." Probably because the world "sprinkles" itself wasn't long enough to flatter an english accent or maybe because that's what's stuck down your arms after eating an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.
jimmies are named for the Jimmy Fund, the children’s cancer charity; for a kid named Jimmy who got them on his ice cream as a birthday treat (“they’re Jimmy’s”); for a mayor named Jim Conelson, or a Jimmy O’Connell who was extra generous with sprinkles; and for a guy who (maybe) ran the chocolate-sprinkles machine at the Just Born candy factory.
However, there's another side to every story. According to the brand Mr. Sprinkles, the name "jimmies" was a name given to the topping after Dr. Sidney Farber, an uncle of Edward Brigham. He created a charitable organization named after one of his patients called The Jimmy Fund, which still exists today. Brigham's supported this fund by charging an extra penny for chocolate sprinkles as an ice cream topping which eventually evolved into "jimmies" and became known by everyone in the New England area.
According to newspapers from this time chocolate sprinkles were invented before the creation of Just Born candy company by several years. So, Just born candy company perhaps only named an already existing creation and found a way to put it onto the market