The history of ice cream

Don’t you agree that when the hot summer sun is shining and the temperature is perfect for swimming, there’s nothing like a nice, big scoop of ice cream? Ice cream is a great refreshment whether you are on the beach or in the city. But have you ever wondered when people got the crazy idea of using ice and fruit to make ice cream? And how did they do it in the past – without freezers? 

Brooke Lark – https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1501443762994-82bd5dace89a?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8fA%3D%3D&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2070&q=80

We don’t know the exact date when ice cream was invented, nor do we have an inventor we can thank for this amazing idea. But – yes, it’s true – ice cream-like desserts were already being eaten two thousand years ago! And that was without a freezer. Join me on a little ice-cream journey:

In ancient Greece, recipes for ancient icy desserts were mentioned. The Greek writer Simonides of Keos described it as consisting of glacier snow combined with fruit, honey or rosewater – voilà! Alexander the Great (who lived from 356 BC to 323 BC) as well as the ancient physician Hippocrates are said to have enjoyed this dessert – but there is not much good evidence for this.

The ancient Roman emperor Nero, who lived in the 1st century AD, is believed to have been so fond of this dish that, as is said of other Roman emperors, he sent people to bring snow and ice from the Apennines. But again, there is little proof to back up these accounts.

Ice cream also has a long history in China – probably the earliest production of a pre-stage of ice cream. Here, the Chinese rulers built large ice storehouses and traditionally milk and saltpeter completed the recipe.

There is a big question mark over the question of how ice cream came to Europe. The most popular theory, that it was the Italian explorer Marco Polo who brought the recipes back to his home country after his journey to China, is most likely just a legend. Instead, the recipe for the ice-cream-like sherbet was known in Arab countries and may have been brought to Europe in the 11th century. 

In Italy, a precursor to ice cream called ‘granita’ became a specialty – recipes from the late 17th century tell us. And many people’s favourite ice cream flavour – chocolate – already existed! But we cannot imagine that everyone in the streets of 17th century Rome or Paris was licking a scoop of ice cream in the summer – people still had to wait a few hundred years for ice cream to be sold on the street. Moreover, ice cream was a dish for the rich, for kings and queens and nobles. No wonder, since keeping ice frozen was difficult – remember, the freezer hadn’t been invented yet!

But how did people manage to keep ice cold in the summer? 

For thousands of years, there was only one solution: to store it in a deep cellar or icehouse. The earliest accounts of an icehouse date back to the 18th century BC in Mesopotamia, and although the technology and design changed over the centuries, similar buildings were built in China and Europe for hundreds of years. The technique was successful – but also expensive. Refrigeration became more accessible to many people with the spread of the ice box in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the USA, ice harvesting and trading became a huge success in the 1830s, with many people using ice boxes to store their food. But it was not until the mid-19th century that the first practical artificial refrigeration system was built – and not until 1910 that one of the first refrigerators for the home was introduced. Finally, it had become possible for many people and companies to store ice easily.

So back to the expensive ice cream of the 17th century – what happened next? The first café to serve ice cream dates back to the end of the 17th century in Paris. And during the 18th century ice cream became more and more popular: The President of the United States of America, George Washington, loved to serve ice cream and made it very famous in his country in the 1780s. Some 60 years later, the first patented ice-cream machine was invented by Nancy Johnson – operated by a hand crank. Finally, ice cream became available to the masses: In 1851, the first ice cream factory was established and 20 years later, ice cream appeared on the streets. If you wanted to buy ice cream, you could choose between paper cups and paper cones, or “penny licks“. From today’s hygienic point of view, these are rather questionable, as you would just lick the ice cream out of a glass jar, which would then be briefly washed in not so clean water before being passed on to the next customer.

Are you a fan of popsicle ice? It wasn’t until 1923 that it was patented by Frank Epperson. And his invention was more of an accident, as he described it: Overnight he forgot his glass of lemonade with a spoon outside – the next morning it was frozen, and that was the spark for his idea. About 10 years later, soft ice cream was invented in the USA.

Nowadays we are used to a huge variety of flavours in ice cream parlours. Very unique flavours have been created – what do you think of parmesan, rosemary or even sausage? In Germany, chocolate ice cream was the most popular, but the classic flavours also include vanilla, strawberry and straciatella. There are also quite a few different types of ice cream dessert. As well as traditional ice cream, you can also have sorbet, water ice, soft ice or nicecream, to name just a few.

„Spaghettieis“ – SauLustig,  https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2015/05/13/09/47/ice-765212_1280.jpg

Finally, I would like to introduce you to an ice-cream speciality that is mainly found in Germany and Italy. In the German city of Mannheim, in the 1960s, Dario Fontanella created spaghetti ice cream: vanilla ice cream in the shape of spaghetti noodles, strawberry sauce to imitate tomato sauce and, for the final touch, some grated white chocolate to replace the parmesan. Enjoy!

References: