The year?
2000 B.C.
The place?
China.
The what?
The beginning of milking farm animals. Milk became a high-value product, causing anything made with it a sign of considerable prosperity.
So then, the Chinese created the first “ice cream” of sorts that was more like a pasty milk ice than the smooth creamy treat we consume today. It consisted of overcooked rice, spices, and milk that was then packed in snow (put in the “freezer”) to become solid. It symbolized great wealth. Next, they created fruit ices from fruit pulp.
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By the fourteenth century, ice milk and fruit ice appeared in Italy. The secret recipes of chefs to the affluent were closely guarded. With the high cost of transporting and storing ice for summer for tasty iced desserts, only the wealthy could afford such a treat. From there, France was next in line to receive frozen desserts.
In the 1560s, with technical breakthroughs, large amounts of ice cream could be fully freezable. This was thanks to a Spanish physician living in Rome named Blasius Villafranca. He discovered that adding saltpeter (salt of rock) to the surrounding bath of ice and snow would cause the mixture to freeze more quickly. Florentine confectioners then produced the first solidly frozen ice cream.
As immigrants from Italy moved throughout Europe, they sold ice cream and other frozen treats from pushcarts. By 1870, these vendors were a familiar sight in London and came to be known as the “hokey pokey” man by British children. Even in America they became known as thus, until Ohioan Harry Burt changed all that when he marketed the first chocolate-covered ice cream on a stick. He named his creation the “Good Humor Sucker”, and so the Good Humor man was born.
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Around this same time, in 1874, the ice cream soda was introduced. Then in the mid-1880s, the ice cream sundae made its debut. It’s believed that the fanciful spelling of the day of the week with an “e” instead of a “y” is because that was the only day it was sold.
Why only on Sundays?
One theory is that the religious community prevented the sale and consumption of soda water on Sundays because it was akin to “spirits.” So, when you remove the soda water from an ice cream soda, what’s left is ice cream and flavored syrup. A less widely held theory was that the syrup was expensive and families could only splurge on this treat one day a week—Sunday.
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It would be many decades before whipped cream became a standard on sundaes and ice cream sodas. This was because cream had to be laboriously beaten by hand. However, college chemistry student Charles Goetz had just this task in his part-time job at an ice cream parlor. He also worked in the Dairy Bacteriology Department at the university working on improving sterilizing milk.
In the 1930s, Goetz theorized that if milk were stored under high pressure gas, bacteria might not multiply. Through his experiments, he discovered that when the milk was released, it foamed.
“It was evident to me that if cream were used the foamed product would be whipped cream.”
Every gas tested left an undesirable taste in the whipped cream. Through a dentist, he learned of a nonflammable gas that was odorless and tasteless—nitrous oxide, a.k.a. laughing gas. Ta-da! The first canned, commercial whipped cream. This also brought about the age of aerosols, which is financially nothing to laugh at.
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| Author Photo |
Ice cream is likely America’s favorite dessert and is the foundation of a good sundae. How do you like to top your sundae?
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THE QUILTING CIRCLE SERIES Box Set
Historical Romance Series
By Mary Davis
THE WIDOW’S PLIGHT (Book1) – Will a secret clouding a single mother’s past cost Lily her loved ones?
THE DAUGHTER’S PREDICAMENT (Book2) *SELAH & WRMA Finalist* – As Isabelle’s romance prospects turn in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams.
THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (Book3) *SELAH Winner* – Nicole heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband. Can she learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?
THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET (Book4) – Complications arise when a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms.
Mary lives in Colorado with Carolina Dog named Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub
Sources
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, p. 418-421
https://www.history.com/articles/where-do-ice-cream-sorbet-frozen-desserts-come-from
https://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-ice-cream/
https://www.foodrepublic.com/1519840/sweet-fluffy-history-whipped-cream/
