I love ice cream, but I never put much thought into its origin story until now. It turns out people all over the world have had a taste for frozen treats since ancient times. I’m talking as early as 400 BC. The Chinese indulged in a dish made of milk poured over cooked rice and flavored with spices, then frozen. The Persians created a treat made of rose water, lime juice and delicate noodles. In India, kulfi came about as a slow-frozen milk dessert with flavoring.
Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. During the Roman Empire, Claudius Ceasar would send runners into the mountains for snow which was then flavored with fruit and juice. A thousand years later, Marco Polo came back to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely resembled what we call sherbet. Historians believe it became “ice cream” in the 16th century. By the 17th century it was called “cream ice” in England and appeared regularly on King Charles I's table. In 1660, a Sicilian, Procopio came up with a recipe using milk, cream, butter and eggs. He sold it at Café Procope, the first café in Paris.
Ice cream was a dessert for the elite. Ice and snow were needed to make it. Someone had to harvest the ice and storage was needed to keep the ice frozen. The wealthy had access to those things. Ice Cream made its way to America through different people. Thomas Jefferson fell in love with it while he was in Europe and brought home a recipe. In New York City, confectioner Philip Lenzi began making ice cream to sell. He put an ad in the New York Gazette on May 12, 1777 announcing it was available “almost” every day. George Washington enjoyed it so much he spent $200 on it during the summer of 1790. That would be thousands of dollars in today’s market. Dolly Madison served a spectacular strawberry ice cream creation for her husband’s second inaugural dinner in 1813.
By 1800, insulated ice houses were invented. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Tudor Ice Company harvested ice from Walden Pond, Fresh Pond and other lakes in New England from early 1800s to the 1890s. Later, Cambridge was a natural location for ice cream manufacturing.
We can’t talk about ice cream without mentioning the ice cream cone. It sprang into popularity at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair and never looked back.
Since we're in the Autumn season, I thought you might be interested in a recipe for homemade Pumpkin ice cream.
In, 1880, after narrowly escaping an arranged marriage, Julia marries Jacob, the man of her dreams, and they move to Iowa to buy a farm. Upper-class Julia has never been in a kitchen, let alone on a farm. How will she manage? Joys and sorrows find them along the way including a personal loss for Julia which triggers a disagreement leading to estrangement. Can their faith in God bring forgiveness and reconciliation?
Heart's Journey is on sale through October 31st for $1.99.
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