Over 100 years ago in St. Joseph, Missouri, Marie Costello bought a refrigerator. Chasing the age of household appliances, Costello put her new gadget to use. Nestled in a little booklet of fridge-friendly recipes that came with the new fridge was cranberry ice, a dish that now, a century later, joins holiday dinners and forges family connection.
The frozen treat – a blend of sweet oranges, crushed cranberries and smooth sugar – requires multiple rounds of freezing and whipping. But, Nola Hirdt ‘26, Costello’s great-great-granddaughter, promises the results are worth the hours of elbow grease.
“It’s delicious. It’s so airy, but so creamy at the same time. And the tart, the sweet –it’s all there. I understand why this has stuck around,” Hirdt said.
Despite the time-consuming cranberry ice preparation process, the recipe has powerful persistence. At every wintry holiday meal, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, a frozen cup of Costello’s cranberry ice accompanies the Hirdt family’s main course.
“It seems like a dessert, because, obviously, it’s like ice cream. But we have special cranberry ice dishes that are like little glass, tiny glass bowls that are put next to the cup and we eat it with the meal.”
Costello’s descendants are now scattered around the country, and her ten children relocated throughout the Midwest and the Northeast. For Hirdt and her family, the recipe is more than a tasty treat; it’s an opportunity to reconnect with far-flung relatives.
“It’s become a family tradition, not only to eat it, but also to make it. I’ve gone over and helped [my extended family] with the cranberry ice before, because since we make it for so many people, there are tons and tons of cranberries. We have to go in shifts… we make an event out of it.”
Over the years, the significance of Costello’s cranberry ice has changed for Hirdt.
“For the longest time, it was just, ‘I’m so excited to eat ice cream.’ Now that I do know how long this has been in the family, I think it’s just so adorable to think about how long ago that was – like, this is my great-great-grandma. This was forever ago.”
