The first frozen custard stand to open in Wisconsin, this iconic restaurant is still in its original location and is celebrating 82 years of business in 2020. If you’ve got a custard craving, we’ve got a few suggestions: Today, custard continues to be a favorite Wisconsin treat.
Initially, the idea was debated in the custard community, but the public loved the new flavor, and Kopp’s became known for their “flavor of the day” in addition to the traditional chocolate and vanilla. In the 1960s, the Kopp’s custard stand was successful enough that Elsa, the shop’s owner, felt comfortable experimenting by combining the two flavors together. This is the reason why the city is known as the “Unofficial Frozen Custard Capital of the World” - including those three, the city has more frozen custard shops per capita than anywhere else on the planet.įor the first few decades of its existence in Wisconsin, frozen custard was one of two flavors - vanilla or chocolate. Gilles was the first to open in 1938, followed by Leon’s in 1942 and Kopp’s in 1950. In the late 1930s and 1940s, many of the now-iconic frozen custards stands debuted in Milwaukee. This was due to early custard machines not taking enough time to mix the product. State law required that custard have 13% butterfat, but in many of the varieties it was testing, the custard had 6% butterfat. In 1932, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture launched a campaign against ice cream vendors who were marketing an inferior product labeled as frozen custard. The new treat, however, was not without a bit of controversy. With an abundance of milk, and easy access to ice, frozen custard was the ideal product. Prohibition had something to do with this - many Wisconsin breweries tried to produce items other than beer to stay in business, among them soda, cheese, and ice cream. The 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago is responsible for the Midwest’s love affair with frozen custard, but the Badger State was already ahead of the curve and producing frozen custard and ice cream in the early 1930s. Ice cream vendors Archie and Elton Kohr realized that when they added egg yolks to ice cream, it had a smoother texture and helped the ice cream stay cold longer - perfect for hot summer afternoons on the boardwalk. The invention of frozen custard can be traced back to 1919 in Coney Island, New York. Wisconsin’s love of frozen custard - a dessert similar to ice cream, but made with eggs in addition to cream, sugar, and flavoring - is so solid that it might surprise you to know that the treat didn’t originate in Wisconsin.