Ice Cream

Did you know...
No one knows who invented Ice Cream!
Maybe because it has been around for so long no one can take credit for having made this sweet tasting creamy treat. In the beginning it was just flavored ice or snow.
Like the "Icies" or "snowcones" we make today.

The Roman emperor Nero ordered ice to be brought from the mountains and blended it with different fruits. In the 5th century BC, the Greeks mixed ice with honey and fruit, prepared cones of ice and sold them in Athens. Some credit the discovery of Ice Cream to the Chinese who used snow and saltpeter to cool syrups poured into containers. Why salt? Salt brings down the freezing point of ice, this method proved effective in making ice creams. Perhaps, it was the Chinese who eventually brought ice cream to Europe. But no one is sure about that either. So I guess it would be best to say Ice Cream just evolved over time.

In 1533 the Italians are believed to have introduced ice cream recipes in France. As time went on people began to add cream or milk to the mixture to make it smoother.

Even though we will never know who the first person was to make Ice Cream we still enjoy this frozen tasty treat today and in many ways and flavors.

Ice Cream at one time was the choice of the rich and they wanted to keep it a secret. So much so that Charles I of England offered a lifetime pension to his ice cream maker on the condition that the formula for making ice cream would be kept in secrecy. During those times, ice creams were a novelty and remained being a specialty for years to come. The wealthy lot of the society wanted to keep ice creams for themselves only.

In 1718, a recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts.

*Nancy Johnson patented the hand-cranked freezer, thus establishing the widely used method of making ice creams. Hand-cranked Ice Cream Maker
*Jacob Fussell developed a commercial ice cream plant in 1851.
*In 1897, Alfred Cralle introduced an ice cream scoop and mold.

Here's an interesting fact...In the state of Kansas, at one time, it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie. Hummm wonder if it was okay to be served on Apple Pie?