King Cone

Lyons Maid's answer to Cornettos - a prepackaged biscuit cone full of ice-cream, available in chocolate, strawberry, nut and so on. They were available in the late 70s and cost a fortune. They had far groovier adverts than Walls's O Sole Mio affaris. 'Lick me, bite me, anywhere you like me, As long as you love me, it's all right' everyone would sing.

And we tried them, and they were okay. But they were only 'okay'. And then we stopped trying them and gave our affection wholeheartedly to Cornettos - until Haagen Daaz came along, that is. Cornettos are still available. King Cones are no more.

Though cornettos are much easier to find, King cones are not extinct. I bought mine today (Sunday March 11 2001) after about a week of keeping an eye out for one (Cornettos everywehere..) I got it at the 24-hour convenience store attached to the Shell garage opposite St. Peter’s square on Main road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa. They only had Tex flavour (Tex is a chocolate bar). It was made in South Africa. “manufactured under licence by Dairymaid-Nestle Pty Ltd”. The cone is a standard sugar cone, not biscuit at all.

The Wrapper claims that it is made by “Dairymaid- Nestle” and that the ingredients are (I quote from the wrapper “INGREDIENTS: Skimmed milk, Sugar cone, Tex bar(Cane sugar, Full cream milk solids, Vegetable fat, Cocoa mass, Wheaten flour, Cocoa butter, Whey powder (milk), Raising agents, Emulsifiers, Fat reduced cocoa powder, Coffee, flavourants, Salt, Chicory. May contain traces of nuts), Cane sugar, Chocolate ripple, Vegetable fats, Glucose syrup, Chocolate, Whey powder (milk), Cocoa powder, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Flavourant, Colorant.

No doubt this ingredients list would have been different if I had found a good flavour but I haven’t on a King Cone mission in years. But hey, this one’s not bad at all.

I located more king cones today. Vanilla and choc-vanilla, at the spar on Main road Rosebank (Cape Town). I bought choc-vanilla. It’s not bad.

The wrapper reads:
Frozen snack in a wafer cone, with hazelnuts, chocolate and chocolate sauce.

Ingredients: Skimmed milk, Wafer cone, Chocolate, palm oil, Cane Sugar, Hazelnuts, Glucose Syrup, Butter, Cocoa powder, Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Flavorants, Colourants.