100 things challenge - 54: Ice cream

[birdienl]

Yep, it's still quite hot here in The Netherlands (and I believe also in quite a lot of other countries?), so another summer-themed post for the 100 things blogging challenge, this time about ice cream!

Ice cream of sorts was already consumed by 600 BC by people of the Persian Empire. They poored grape-juice over snow and ate this as a treat, using snow stored in underground chambers or taken from high up in the mountains. In 400 BC a special frozen recipe was first described; faloodeh, rose water, mixed with saffron and fruits and, interestingly enough, vermicelli! This recipe is still sold in ice-cream shops in the Arab world. The Romans, especially Emperor Nero, also liked ice cream, he had it brought in from the mountains and ate it with fruit toppings.

The Arabs were probably the first who used milk and cream as ingredients for ice cream. As early as the 10th century, ice cream was sold widely in many of the Arab world's large cities. What devices they used for making the ice is unclear, this was however discovered for early Chinese civilizations. The Chinese poured a mixture of snow and salt over pots filled with the ice cream mixture. Salt lowers the freezing point of water to below zero.

How ice cream exactly came from the Eastern to the Western world is unknown. There is a legend Marco Polo discovered ice cream when he visited China and took the technique back to his native Italy in the 14th century. At the The Medici court ice cream makers were probably employed and there is a story of Charles I of England promising an ice cream maker a lifetime pension if he kept his recipe a secret. Again, there is no real proof for this stories.

The first ice cream recipes began to appear in French in the late 17th century and in English in the early 18th century. Ice cream was introduced to America by the Quakers, who brought their recipes with them. The chilled treat was sold in confectionery shops in New York already during the colonial era. In the UK, ice remained an expensive and rare treat until the mid-Victorian era. The first ice cream stall was opened in 1851 by an Italian businessman. They sold scoops of ice cream in shells for one penny.

The development of the industrial refrigerator in the 1870s and the commercial freezer in 1926 made mass production of ice cream possible.

Comments

[lefin1.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

A few days ago, I read about a refrigerator without using electricity (http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2004/04/14/cool_fridge_without_using_electricity.htm).

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

That's great! It's good to sometimes be reminded of times/countries where refrigeration is not so obvious and look at their inventive solutions!

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

I had no idea ice cream was first developed (or at least our earliest knowledge of it use was in) the Persian Empire.

Now I'm going to go eat some ice cream. :)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

No, I had no idea either. Learned a lot from typing up this post!

[lunalove24.livejournal.com]

That's so cool! (Sorry, I couldn't resist) ;)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Hehe, doesn't matter!

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! I'm really craving ice cream now, haha. Yum!

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

That was the idea (*evil grin*) Hope you have some handy!