Ice cream
Much of what is written about the history of ice cream begins centuries ago…and it’s the stuff of legends. The claims of Nero (1st century A.D.) and the ancien tChinese (via Marco Polo) enjoying an “ice-cream-like dessert” are used to show ice cream’s long-standing popularity. These desserts, while frozen, are not ice cream as we know it, but more like sorbet or probably a snow-cone! Nero would have servants run to the mountains for fresh snow and then race back (before it melted) to his palace where he would enjoy the frozen treat topped with fresh fruits. Again, it’s not the dairy treat we enjoy today, and further – it was something only royalty enjoyed (not everyone had servants to send to the mountains).
Ice cream as a dairy delight was probably “discovered” in the 1600’s. The concept of flavored ices evolved, but no one is sure how. We do know that Charles I of England, or rather, his chef (either French or Italian), made ice cream a main dessert at the royal table. Depending on which story you read, the chef eitherhad a secret recipe for ice cream and the king paid him a large reward to keep it a secret, or that he was threatened with death if he told anyone the recipe. Either way, once Charles I was beheaded in 1649, the chef told many people. Soon anyone with some money in Europe knew of, and enjoyed, "crème ice." (Ice cream)
In the18th century ice cream became more known by the rich, as was seen on both sides of the Atlantic. Several recipes appear in a 1700 French cookbook, “L’Art de Faire des Glace”. George Washington paid almost $200 (an extremely large sum of money for then) for a specific ice cream recipe. Still, ice cream was limited in quantity and popularity, due to the enormous effort needed to make it. You needed two large bowls, lots of ice and salt, and 40 minutes of shaking one bowl while stirring the other! A lot of work even if you love ice cream!
Vocabulary
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