Learn to Make the Perfect Banana Split (2024)

• Swap one or more of the ice cream flavors for any of your favorites, like pistachio, cookies and cream, or cherry ice cream.
• Try different syrups like butterscotch, caramel, or strawberry sauce.
• A variety of chopped, toasted nuts like peanuts, pecans, almonds, or pistachios are delicious sprinkled on top.
• Add other toppings like toasted coconut or sprinkles.

• The long, narrow banana dishes can be found in your local grocery or home goods store, but if you don't have this specific shaped dish, you can use a large bowl and cut the bananas as needed to fit. It will not be the traditional presentation but will be just as delicious.
• If you'd like to set up a banana split bar, arrange all of the ingredients on a table or buffet in the order they are used, starting with the dishes and ending with the spoons. Let everyone make their own banana split for a fun, interactive dessert.

A 23-year-old pharmacist apprentice named David Evans Strickler is credited with inventing the banana triple ice cream sundae in 1904. Back then, this was a high-priced dessert costing 10 cents, or twice the price of other ice cream sundaes where Strickler worked at the Tassel Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The price didn't deter customers, though, and the treat became popular throughout the country.

In 2004, the 100thanniversary of the city of Latrobe celebrated the invention of the banana split. That year, the National Ice Cream Retailers Association (NICRA) dubbed this Pennsylvania city as the banana split birthplace.

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