I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.
The Beginning
No one knows exactly when or who created ice cream. We know that more than 2,300 years ago, Alexander the Great enjoyed honey and nectar-flavored snow and ice. And almost 400 years after that, the Roman Emperor Nero enjoyed fruit and juice-flavored snow. Yet, these icy concoctions were just slushy drinks, not ice cream. A thousand years later, in the thirteenth century, Marco Polo visited the Far East. Some claim Polo brought the recipe for ice cream back with him, but there’s nothing in his writings to support that he ever saw or ate it.
Most experts agree the Chinese probably were the first to invent iced dairy products, but they didn’t spread ice cream to Western civilizations. What spread from China and through the Middle East was knowledge. Knowledge of how combining ice and salt created freezing temperatures. Knowing this, people could do more than keep things cold with ice. Adding salt meant they could freeze them.
Did You Know…
- Runners for Emperor Nero frequently brought snow down from the mountains so he could have his icy drinks.
- Most of the stories heard about the invention of ice cream were marketing ploys made up by ice cream sellers in the nineteenth century.
The Science
In 1558, Giambattista della Porta, an Italian alchemist, scholar, and playwright published Natural Magick. In his book, he explained that by putting a container of liquid into a larger container of ice and saltpeter (or even common salt) the liquid would freeze. Rotating or spinning the inner container stirred the liquid, keeping its texture even and preventing it from freezing solid. This secret—how to ice drinks—slowly spread across Europe.
Making flavored ice was expensive, but making flavored frozen milk or cream was even more so. Only the wealthy could afford to purchase the cream and sugar, much less have the funds to keep year-round ice and assign the labor needed to hand-spin the freezing container and stir its contents. So, in the late 1600s, ice cream was mainly a royal delicacy.
Did You Know…
- In 1784, George Washington purchased a mechanical ice cream maker for Mount Vernon. He owned ten ice cream (making) pots, two made of pewter and eight of tin.
- Pewter containers were preferred over tin for making ice cream because they were stronger. Holes could be worn into tin, allowing salt water into the cream and spoiling it.
The Ice
The freezing “magic” of ice and salt could be used any time during the year—as long as you had both ice and salt. Salt could be bought, but where did you get ice in the summer prior to the invention of electricity and refrigeration? You had to have access to it in the winter so it could be harvested and stored for summer. Simply put: No freezing winters. No ice. No summer ice cream.
My paternal great-grandparents in Tennessee had a large ice cellar beneath their house. Every winter, prior to getting electricity in the early 1930s, large blocks of ice were cut out of the nearby river and stored there. Ice would then be chipped off the blocks as needed throughout the year.
Did You Know…
- During his reign (54-86 A.D.), Roman Emperor Nero harvested ice from the mountains and stored it in icehouses, i.e., deep pits covered with straw.
- The first British ice houses appear in the 1600s.
- In July 1758, a hailstorm at the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, VA, broke every window on the north side of the palace. But Governor Francis Fauquier made lemonade from lemons…or in this case, ice cream from large hailstones, which he had servants gather.
- Thomas Jefferson had several icehouses at his home. In the winter of 1802-1803, 62 wagonloads of ice were harvested and stored in them.
- The type of insulating material used between the stored ice blocks (straw, sawdust, reeds, etc.) didn’t matter because the ice wasn’t used in drinks, but to cool them from the outside.
A Secret
Believe it or not, making ice cream was once a closely guarded secret. The first recipe written in English didn’t appear until 1718. The process was very labor-intensive and time-consuming. Then, in 1843, American Nancy M. Johnson invented the first hand-cranked ice cream maker. Her invention revolutionized the ice cream industry, making the process faster and easier. Even today, when ice cream is an easy trip to the store away, people still make ice cream at home using a modification of her original invention.
Did You Know…
- In the eighteenth century, British servants looking for jobs touted their ability to make ice cream.
- Early ice cream recipes didn’t use eggs, just cream and fruit. Eggs weren’t added until the mid-1700s. Ice cream then became smoother and creamer and more closely resembled today’s ice cream.
- Early ice cream could be sweet or savory. Some savory flavors included artichoke, avocado, asparagus, foie gras, parmesan cheese, and even ambergris. (Ambergris, also referred to as “whale vomit,” is created in a sperm whale’s intestines. Mmm, sounds tasty. NOT!)
- Floral flavors like jasmine, lavender, and rose were also popular. According to eighteenth-century cookbooks, other ice cream flavors included coffee, tea, pistachio, chestnut cream, and fruits, especially strawberry and raspberry.
- Eighteenth-century chocolate ice cream was less common and could be cayenne spicy. Vanilla didn’t become widely available until the 1800s.