As warmer weather arrives, taste buds go from craving soup and hot chocolate to the ice cold creamy texture of ice cream. The history of ice cream dates further back than most people know.
The beginnings of ice cream may have started during the Roman Empire when Nero Claudius Caesar sent runners into the mountains for snow, then flavored it with his favorite fruits and juices. Some history books say that Alexander the Great loved snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. Marco Polo brought it back from his travels from the far east. Then Catherine de Medici, introduced ice cream to the France during her reign as queen consort, allowing for a rise in the expansion of the sweet treat. With ice cream on the rise, innovators and cooks put every effort into making it popular and available to everyone. In the years that ice cream has progressed, humans have found ways to make advances in ice dessert items and make them more appealing.
In time, they found out that ice cream melts faster in the heat, so they worked on finding that solution. The solution to that problem appeared in 1926 when electric freezing became reality. This allowed manufacturers to produce large quantities of this delicious treat which allowed everyone to buy ice cream. The popularity of ice cream in the United States happened in the 1930s during the market crash but received massive expansion to Europe during World War II. The ice cream industry earns over billions of dollars each year with the United States as the largest consumer of this treat.
The emperors, during the Tang Dynasty, believed to have first eaten a frozen/milk-like cream. This is determined with goat, buffalo, or cow milk and heated with flour. When the mixture is put into cylinder tubes put it then into a deep ice pool until frozen all the way through. Very similar refrigeration to the way Indians made kulfi prior to its refrigeration. During Medieval Times, something called sherbert was created and often flavored with pomegranate, cherry, or quince. Antonio Latini, a man that worked for a Spanish Viceroy in Naples, created a milk-based sorbet and is considered one of the first ice cream makers. A French confectioner, Nicolas Audiger, describes several recipes of Fromage in his books. Audiger also suggests that stirring ices during the freezing process allows for a fluffier texture of ice cream. By the 1700s, history books about ice cream had already been written. In 1790, the first ice cream parlor opened in New York. During that same summer, the first president, George Washington, had spent $200 on ice cream to fulfill his craving for this delicious treat. Records of his home in Mt. Vernon indicated that Washington owned many ice cream pots.
Blue Bell Ice cream
Blue Bell, as we know and love, was started in 1907 by a group of local businessmen in Brenham, Texas. They decided to establish the Brenham Creamery Company and make butter from excess cream brought in from farmers. Years later, the company began making ice cream and delivering it by horse. In 1930, the company changed its name to Bluebell after a native Texas flower.
Ben and Jerry’s ice cream
In 1978, the founders of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream opened their first ice cream scoop shop from a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. After the 1970s, the organization rented a place to start packing their ice cream in pints to distribute to grocery Mom and Pop stores in Vermont. In 1981, Ben and Jerry’s started getting around the world so they opened up their first franchised scoop shop in Shelburne, Vermont.
Haagen- Daz Ice cream
60 years ago, two Polish immigrants from the Bronx, created a new type of ice cream. In 1966, Ruben Mattus wanted to create strawberry ice cream. After six years, he created the perfect strawberry ice cream. In 1976, their daughter Doris opened the first shop in Brooklyn Heights, New York. The shop remains in the same spot today.
