Have you ever thought of what it would be like if ice cream has never been invented? No ice cream sundae. No banana split. No rocky road. No cookie n cream. Not even plain old vanilla ice cream. Well, where do ice cream comes from? Who comes up with the idea? Continue reading and you will find out.
No one knows for sure who, where and when ice cream was invented. There are many myths from different countries claiming they invented ice cream. One myth said that the Roman Emperor Nero (54 – 68 BC) get snow from nearby mountains and store them in an “ice house”. The snow was mixed with nectar, fruit pulp, and honey. Another myth floating around was that Alexander the Great like to drink icy drinks flavored with honey or wine. These , however, were more of a snow cone type than a typical ice cream we known today.
One myth, which is greatly accepted, was from China. During the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), the Tang emperor was believed to have been the first to eat a frozen milk-like ice cream. This frozen milk-like ice cream was created by heating the flour with milk from cow, goat or buffalo. They added camphor to enhance the flavor and texture. The mixture was then placed into metal tubes and lowered into an ice pool until frozen.
In medieval times, Arabs drank an icy refreshment called sherbet, or sharabt in Arabic, which were flavored with cherry, pomegranate, or quince.
Antonio Latini (1642–1692) is credited with being the first person to write down a recipe for sorbetto. He is also responsible for creating a milk-based sorbet, which was consider to be the first “official” ice cream.
In 1686, Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli opened Paris’ first café, Il Procope. The café introduced gelato, the Italian version of sorbet. It was served in small porcelain bowls resembling egg cups. Procopio became known as the “Father of Italian Gelato.”
During the 18th century, fromage became quite popular throughout France. Several fromage recipes were described in a book called “La maison reglée” written by Nicolas Audiger . Fromage are made from ices flavored with fruit , cream, sugar and orange flower water. Even though it is call fromage, it was not made from cheese. Audiger also suggests stirring ices during the freezing process to introduce air and create a fluffier texture.
Around 1800's, insulated ice houses were invented. In 1777, the first ice cream parlor opened in New York .
In 1843, Nancy Johnson developed and patent the first hand-crank ice cream maker. She sold her rights to William Young for just $200 and the machine was called the “Johnson Patent Ice-Cream Freezer."
In 1851, a Baltimore milk dealer named Jacob Fussell started to manufacture ice cream. His factory utilized ice-houses and a larger version of Johnson’s machine. He became the father of the wholesale ice cream industry.
In 1874, the American ice cream soda was invented. Back then it was a sin to eat ice cream soda on Sundays, Christ day. In the late 1890's, the ice cream merchants decided to take out the carbonated water and invented the ice cream "Sunday" . The name was eventually changed to "sundae" to remove any connection with the Sabbath.
In 1903, Italo Marchiony submitted a patent for a mold to make an edible cups with handles (ice cream cone). Ice cream cone made its first American debut at Saint Louis World's Fair in 1904.
Grocery stores didn’t start selling ice cream until the 1930’s. As more prepackaged ice cream was sold through supermarkets, traditional
ice cream parlors and soda fountains started to disappear.
By
World War II,
ice cream had become so popular that it turned into somewhat of an
American morale symbol . In 1943, the
U.S. Armed Forces were the world’s largest ice cream manufacturers. In 1945, the first "floating ice cream parlor" was built for sailors in the western Pacific.
Today ice creams are sold worldwide, with different flavors and style. It's a novelty that we all come to love and enjoy, not just by emperors or rich aristocrats anymore. One has to wonder what if ice cream was never invented in the first place. Can you imagine?? I know I can not picture my world without ice cream. I LOVE ICE CREAM !!!
"I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream!." O_O
