Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food colouring is sometimes added in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. It can also be made by whisking a flavoured cream base and liquid nitrogen together. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures (below ). It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.
Ice cream may be served in dishes, eaten with a spoon, or licked from edible wafer hand-held ice cream cones as finger food. Ice cream may be served with other desserts such as cake or pie, used as an ingredient in cold dishes such as ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, and ice cream cakes, or in baked items such as Baked Alaska. It is often sold in dedicated ice cream parlors, carts, stands or vans.
The Italian word for ice cream, gelato ("frozen"), is often used in English. Frozen custard is a type of rich ice cream. Soft serve is softer and is often served at amusement parks and fast-food restaurants in the United States. Ice creams made from cow's milk alternatives, such as goat's or sheep's milk, or milk substitutes (e.g., soy, oat, cashew, coconut, almond milk, or tofu), are available for those who are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy protein, or vegan. Banana "nice cream" is a 100% fruit-based vegan alternative. Frozen yoghurt, or "froyo", is similar to ice cream but uses yoghurt, and is usually lower in fat. Fruity sorbets or sherbets without dairy content are usually also sold in ice cream shops.
The legal definition of the name ice cream varies from country to country. In some countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the term ice cream applies only to products meeting a defined specification; most governments regulate the commercial use of the various terms according to the relative quantities of the main ingredients, notably the amount of butterfat from cream. In the UK "dairy ice cream" is more restrictive than "ice cream" alone. Products containing milk or cream that do not meet the criteria to be called ice cream, usually due to being reduced fat (often to reduce cost), are sometimes labelled frozen dairy dessert instead. In some other countries the name of the dessert makes no mention of cream, and is applicable to non-dairy desserts. Example from Argentina: helado ("frozen") is the term for ice cream.
History Origins
Persian, Chinese, and Roman cuisines The origins of frozen desserts are obscure, although several accounts exist about their history. According to some sources, the history of ice cream begins in ancient Persia around 550 BC and Persian engineering techniques for storing and using ice led to the creation of the forerunner of all frozen desserts. A Roman cookbook dating back to the 1st century includes recipes for sweet desserts sprinkled with snow, and there are Persian records from the 2nd century for sweetened drinks chilled with ice.
In his poem Zhao Hun (Summoning of the Soul), Qu Yuan, a poet from the late Warring States period of China, recorded frozen treats(Or iced drinks).
By the Tang dynasty work Youyang Zazu records methods for making cold drinks. These include liquid-based laoyin (fermented milk drinks) and tanglao (sweetened fermented milk), with the former consumed as a beverage and the latter used as a condiment for fruit rather than a main ingredient. Additionally, there was sushan, a butter-like frozen dessert solidified at low temperatures and shaped like a mini-mountain, as well as binglao, a cold drink made by combining cow or goat milk with fruit juice. The Song dynasty poet Yang Wanli once wrote a poem titled Yong Binglao ('Ode to Ice Cheese'), though its correct title was later determined to be Yong Su ('Ode to Butter').
Earliest written documentation The earliest known written process to artificially make ice is known not from culinary texts, but the 13th-century writings of Syrian historian Ibn Abi Usaybi'a in his book "Kitab Uyun al-anba fi tabaqat-al-atibba" (Book of Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians) concerning medicine in which Ibn Abi Usaybi'a attributes the process to an even older author, Ibn Bakhtawayhi, of whom nothing is known.
Ice cream production became easier with the discovery of the endothermic effect. Prior to this, cream could be chilled easily but not frozen. The addition of salt lowered the melting point of ice, drawing heat from the cream and allowing it to freeze.
In the 16th century, the Mughal Empire used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to its capital, Delhi, used to create kulfi, a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent often described as traditional Indian ice cream. Although Delhi has been described as the birthplace of kulfi, Australian food historian Charmaine O'Brien suggests:
Europe The technique of freezing was not known from any European sources prior to the 16th century. During the 16th century, authors made reference to the refrigerant effect that happened when salt was added to ice. By the latter part of the 17th century sorbets and ice creams were made using this process.
Ice cream's spread throughout Europe is sometimes attributed to Moorish traders, but more often Marco Polo. Though it is not mentioned in any of his writings, Polo is often credited with introducing sorbet-style desserts to Italy after learning of them during his travels to China. According to a legend, the Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici introduced flavoured sorbet ices to France when she brought Italian chefs with her to France upon marrying the Duke of Orléans (Henry II of France) in 1533. However, no Italian chefs were present in France during the Medici period, and ice cream already existed in France before de Medici was born. One hundred years later, Charles I of England was reportedly so impressed by the "frozen snow" that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime pension in return for keeping the formula secret, so that ice cream could be a royal prerogative. There is no evidence to support these legends.
France In 1665, the , edited in Montpellier by Jean Fargeon, listed a type of frozen sorbet. While the composition of this sorbet is not provided, Fargeon specified that it was consumed frozen using a container that was plunged into a mixture of ice and saltpetre. These sorbets were transported in pots made of clay and sold for three livres per pound.
According to , the practice of cooling drinks with ice and snow had already emerged in Paris, particularly in the court, during the 16th century. The narrator notes that his hosts stored ice and snow, which they later added to their wine. This practice slowly progressed during the reign of Louis XIII and was likely a necessary step towards the creation of ice cream. In 1682, provided a recipe for a specific type of ice cream, called .
In 1686, the italian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli, born in Palermo (Sicily), opened an ice cream café in Paris, leading to another 250 Paris cafés serving ice cream over the next 50 years.
The first recipe in French for flavoured ices appears in 1674, in Nicholas Lemery's . Recipes for saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latini's (The Modern Steward). Recipes for flavoured ices begin to appear in François Massialot's , starting with the 1692 edition. Massialot's recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the fine consistency of sugar and snow.
England The first recorded mention of ice cream in England was in 1671. Elias Ashmole described the dishes served at the Feast of St George at Windsor for Charles II in 1671 and included "one plate of ice cream". The only table at the banquet with ice cream on it was that of the King. The first recipe for ice cream in English was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts, in London in 1718:
The 1751 edition of The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse includes a recipe for ice cream: "H. GLASSE Art of Cookery (ed. 4) 333 (heading) To make Ice Cream...set it [the cream] into the larger Bason. Fill it with Ice, and a Handful of Salt."Oxford English Dictionary, 3nd ed. 2012 s.v. 'ice cream' by M. Emy, in 1768, was a cookbook devoted to recipes for flavoured ices and ice cream.
In 1769 Domenico Negri, an Italian confectioner, founded a business in Berkeley Square London which would become famous for its ice creams. His shop was at the Sign of the Pineapple (an emblem used by confectioners) and his trade card said he sold "All Sorts of English, French and Italian wet and dry'd Sweet Meats, Cedrati and Bergamot Chips, Naples Diavoloni, All sorts of Baskets & Cakes, fine and Common Sugar plums", but most importantly, "all Sorts of Ice, Fruits and creams in the best Italian manner."
In 1789, Frederick Nutt, who served an apprenticeship at Negri's establishment, first published The Complete Confectioner. The book had 31 recipes for ice creams, some with fresh fruit, others with jams, and some using fruit syrups. Flavours included ginger, chocolate, brown breadcrumbs, and Parmesan cheese.
Asia Japan is a Japanese dessert made with ice and flavoured syrup. The origins of date back to the Heian period in Japanese history, when blocks of ice saved during the colder months would be shaved and served with sweet syrup to the Japanese aristocracy during the summer. 's origin is referred to in The Pillow Book, a book of observations written by Sei Shōnagon, who served the Imperial Court during the Heian period.
North America An early North American reference to ice cream is from an account in 1744 of a dinner held by governor Thomas Bladen and his wife: "...after which came a Dessert no less Curious. Among the Rarities of which it was Compos'd, was some fine Ice Cream, which, with the Strawberries and Milk, eat most Deliciously."
Who brought ice cream to the United States first is unknown. Confectioners sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. Records, kept by a merchant from Chatham street, New York, show George Washington spending approximately $200 on ice cream in the summer of 1790. The same records show president Thomas Jefferson having an 18-step recipe for ice cream. Although it is incorrect that Jefferson introduced ice cream to America, as is popularly believed, he did help to introduce vanilla ice cream. First Lady Dolley Madison, wife of U.S. President James Madison, served ice cream at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.
Small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezers were invented in England by Agnes Marshall and in America by Nancy Johnson in the 1840s.
Expansion in popularity
In the Mediterranean, ice cream appears to have been accessible to ordinary people by the mid-18th century. Ice cream became popular and inexpensive in England in the mid-19th century, when Swiss émigré Carlo Gatti set up the first stand outside Charing Cross station in 1851. He sold scoops in shells for one penny. Prior to this, ice cream was an expensive treat confined to those with access to an ice house. Gatti built an 'ice well' to store ice that he cut from Regent's Canal under a contract with the Regent's Canal Company. By 1860, he expanded the business and began importing ice on a large scale from Norway.