A Brief History of Ice Cream
So
where did it all begin???????
Well,
the earliest evidence is around 3000 years ago, when the Emperors
of China were said to be indulging themselves in frozen delicacies
made from snow and ice flavoured with fruit, wine and honey.
It was not until later that the treat was first recorded in
Europe. It is said that the Chinese taught Arab traders how
to combine syrups and snow, which translates into an early
version of the sorbetto. Arab traders then showed Venetians
and Romans how to make this new found frozen delicacy.
In the 4th Century B.C., Alexander the Great is said to have
been fond of iced beverages. And, in 62 A.D., the Roman Emperor
Nero is recorded to have sent fleets of slaves to the Apennine
mountains to collect snow and ice to be flavoured with nectar,
fruit pulp and honey.
The earliest recorded evidence of anything close to resembling
ice cream comes from the Tang period in China (A.D. 618-907).
Buffalo, cow and goat milk was heated along with grounded
rice and allowed to ferment. Flour was then added for thickening
and camphor, a strong smelling white substance used today
in medicine and in making plastics, was used for flavouring!!
King Tang of Shang had 94 icemen on his staff that took care
of this duty. This is the first account of dairy being used
in this frozen dessert!!!
But the frozen delicacy was not well known until the 16th
Century when Catherine de Medici of Florence took her cooks
and sorbetto recipes with her when she married Henry II and
became Queen of France. In the 17th Century, Charles I of
England is then thought to have purchased the formula for
"frozen milk" from a French chef. As they spread
through the royal houses of Europe, eggs and cream also began
to be added, and the frozen delicacies came to be known as
"cream ices". The development of custard around
the same time was a great addition thrown into the "cream
ices".
The "cream ices" were considered a delicacy for
the upper class until it could be produced by the population
at large. This took developments in the freezing of foods
and manufacturing to aid in its widespread fame. Previously
ice cream had to be eaten within a few hours of it being made
as it required too much ice to keep it frozen
The 19th Century brought the introduction of the ice cream
machine in 1843 in both England and America, which simplified
ice cream manufacturing. It consisted of a wooden bucket that
was filled with ice and salt and had a handle that rotated.
The salt and ice mixture surrounded the central metal container
containing the ice cream. This churning produced ice cream
with an even, smooth texture. Previously it was made in a
pewter pot kept in a bucket of ice and salt and had to be
regularly hand stirred and scraped from the side of the pots
with a 'spaddle', a sort miniature spade on a long handle.
The invention of the waffle cone is another important piece
in ice cream history. Although the waffle cone itself can
be traced back hundreds of years, the first recording of cones
being used for serving ice cream was made in the 19th Century
(1888) in Mrs. Marshall's Cookery Book. Prior to the waffle
cone, ice cream was either licked out of a small glass known
as a penny lick or taken away wrapped in waxed paper referred
to as a "hokey pokey". "Hokey pokey" is
supposed to have come from the Italian "ecco un poco"
which translates to "here is a little". The first
recorded use of waffle cones in America came in 1904 at the
World's Fair in St. Louis.
The early-middle 20th Century saw the widespread fame of ice
cream. It became an edible morale symbol during World War
II when each branch of the military tried to outdo the other
in serving ice cream to its troops. In 1945, the first "floating
ice cream parlor" was built for sailors in the western
Pacific. When the war ended, and dairy product rationing was
lifted, America celebrated its victory with ice cream, an
average of 20 quarts of ice cream per person in 1946.
In the 1940's through the '70s, ice cream production was relatively
constant in North America. As more prepackaged ice cream was
sold through supermarkets, traditional ice cream parlors and
soda fountains started to disappear. Now, specialty ice cream
stores and unique restaurants that feature ice cream dishes
have surged in popularity. These stores and restaurants are
popular with those who remember the ice cream shops and soda
fountains of days past, as well as with new generations of
ice cream fans.
Which brings us to today, where ice cream is one of the most
desired desserts around the world. It is enjoyed by people
from every type of background and can be found almost anywhere
around the globe.
So there you have it!! A brief history on ice cream
and how it came to be. Now that you can rest comfortably knowing
the history of this great dessert, don't you think you deserve
a few scoops for yourself?????
Interesting
Facts!
In the 1600s, King Charles I of England offered a
cook a job for life if he made him ice cream and kept it a
secret.
The first official account of ice cream in the New
World comes from a letter written in 1700 by a guest of Maryland
Governor William Bladen.
George Washington loved ice cream so much that he
ran up a $200 bill for the dessert treat one summer in the
late 1700s.
Thomas Jefferson provides us with the first recipe for ice
cream found in the United States. Not to be outdone,
George Washington invested in and ice cream machine for himself.
Ice cream making was a closely guarded secret and
the knowledge of how to make it would have been a meal ticket
for life, which is why the first recipe in English did not
appear until 1718.
Dolly Madison created a sensation when she served
ice cream as a dessert in the White House at the second inaugural
ball in 1812.
In 1843, New England housewife Nancy Johnson invented
the hand-cranked ice cream churn. Lacking the resources to
market the churn herself, she sold the patent for her invention
for $200.
Prohibition in the USA (1919) resulted in many bars
being converted into ice cream parlours, and ice cream's popularity
boomed.
Surveys have shown that men are more likely to choose ice
cream as a dessert than women are.
