History of ice cream

Did you ever wonder about the history of ice cream?

Those who now give ice cream for granted might think is irrelevant because all they care is its delicious flavor, but, as ice cream lovers, we think everybody should know a little bit more about this wonderful dessert.

There was a time when there was no ice cream in the world… a long time ago, when people used ice to serve food, but nothing similar to ice cream as is known nowadays.

In Mesopotamia there were icehouses in which wealthy people kept their food cold. Ice was a luxury that only rich people could have, like the pharaohs of Egypt who ordered to import ice. In Persia, there was storages of ice, called yakhchals and was invented a sort of cold pudding. In Rome, an ancient emperor, Nero, ordered to bring ice from mountains to add it fruits. But were the Arabs the first who utilized milk in preparation of ice cream. The recipe was also known in China, and according with some legends, in one of his trips to the Far East, Marco Polo discovered it, and brought it to Italy.

The history says that ice cream began to be served as a delight approximately in the 17th century. In that time, Charles I of England, or rather his chef, (maybe Italian or French) made ice cream the ‘official’ dessert of the royal table. There are different versions, one says that the king paid to his chef to keep secret the recipe of ice cream. Another version is that the chef was threatened with the death if he revealed the recipe. Anyway, in the middle that century, the nobility in Europe already enjoyed ice cream.

For the 18th century, ice cream was known in England and America, but, still only for the rich ones because its production was difficult and expensive. In United States appeared some shops and was one of the favorite foods of very important people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. In 1847 Nancy Johnson developed the first hand-crank ice cream maker. Some confectioners patented their own recipes and recent advances in refrigeration allowed to create techniques to make ice cream, this way the milky wonder became much more accessible to the common people. Ice cream to everyone!!!!

For the 20th century ice cream was so popular, many stores were opened and appeared many new flavors!!