ice cream

A smooth, sweet, cold food prepared from a frozen mixture of milk products and flavorings, containing a minimum of 10 percent milk fat and eaten as a snack or dessert.

History

Our love affair with ice cream is centuries old. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Jews were known to chill wines and juices. This practice evolved into fruit ices and, eventually, frozen milk and cream mixtures. In the first century, Emperor Nero reportedly sent messengers to the mountains to collect snow so that his kitchen staff could make concoctions flavored with fruit and honey. Twelve centuries later, Marco Polo introduced Europe to a frozen milk dessert similar to the modern sherbet that he had enjoyed in the Far East. The Italians were especially fond of the frozen confection that by the sixteenth century was being called ice cream. In 1533, the young Italian princess Catherine de Medici went to France as the bride of the future King Henry II. Included in her trousseau were recipes for frozen desserts. The first public sale of ice cream occurred in Paris at the Café Procope in 1670.

Frozen desserts were also popular in England. Guests at the coronation banquet of Henry V of England in the fourteenth century enjoyed a dessert called cremefrez. By the seventeenth century, Charles I was served creme ice on a regular basis. Eighteen-century English cookbooks contained recipes for ice cream flavored with apricots, violets, rose petals, chocolate, and caramel. Other early flavorings included macaroon and rum. In early America, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were especially fond of ice cream. Dolley Madison was known to serve it at White House state dinners.

Because ice was expensive and refrigeration had not yet been invented, ice cream was still considered a treat for the wealthy or for those in colder climates. (In a note written in 1794, Beethoven described the Austrians' fear that an unseasonably warm winter would prevent them from enjoying ice cream.) Furthermore, the process of making ice cream was cumbersome and time-consuming. A mixture of dairy products, eggs, and flavorings was poured into a pot and beaten while, simultaneously, the pot was shaken up and down in a pan of salt and ice.

The development of ice harvesting and the invention of the insulated icehouse in the nineteenth century made ice more accessible to the general public. In 1846, Nancy Johnson designed a hand-cranked ice cream freezer that improved production slightly. The first documented full-time manufacturing of ice cream took place in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1851 when a milk dealer named Jacob Fussell found himself with a surplus of fresh cream. Working quickly before the cream soured, Fussell made an abundance of ice cream and sold it at a discount. The popular demand soon convinced him that selling ice cream was more profitable than selling milk.

However, production was still cumbersome, and the industry grew slowly until the industrialization movement of the early twentieth century brought electric power, steam power, and mechanical refrigeration. By the 1920s, agricultural schools were offering courses on ice cream production. Trade associations for members of the industry were created to promote the consumption of ice cream and to fight proposed federal regulations that would call for selling ice cream by weight rather than volume, and the disclosure of ingredients.

The Prohibition era proved to be very profitable for the ice cream industry. Denied alcoholic beverages, many people ate ice cream instead. Breweries were often converted to ice cream factories, although it is likely that some of the plants were merely fronts for illegal liquor sales. Although the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and the ensuing depression slowed ice cream sales, the industry continued to grow. The movie industry was especially instrumental in the promotion of ice cream and scenes depicting stars enjoying the frozen concoctions were plentiful. Ice cream parlors sprang up in every town and the parlor employee, the so-called soda jerk, developed into a cultural icon.

After World War II, with raw materials readily available again, the ice cream industry produced over 20 qt (19 1) of ice cream for each American per year. During the 1950s, competition sprang up between the ice cream parlor and the drug store that sold packaged ice cream. It was during this time that usage of lesser quality ingredients increased. Many producers were adding very low percentages of butterfat and pumping large quantities of air into the ice cream to fill out the carton.

The 1970s saw the development of gourmet ice cream manufacturers with an emphasis on natural ingredients. People also became interested in making ice cream at home. Upscale restaurants offer homemade ice cream on their dessert lists.

Raw Materials

Today, ice cream is made from a blend of dairy products (cream, condensed milk, butterfat), sugar, flavorings, and federally approved additives. Eggs are added for some flavorings, particularly French vanilla. The broad guidelines allow producers to use ingredients ranging from sweet cream to nonfat dry milk, cane sugar to corn-syrup solids, fresh eggs to powdered eggs. Federal regulations do stipulate that each package of ice cream must contain at least 10% butterfat.

The additives, which act as emulsifiers and stabilizers, are used to prevent heat shock and the formation of ice crystals during the production process. The most common additives are guar gum, extracted from the guar bush, and carrageenan, derived from sea kelp or Irish moss.

Ice cream flavors have come a long way from the standard vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. By the 1970s, the International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers had recorded over 400 different flavors of ice cream. In an ever-expanding array of combinations, fruit purees and extracts, cocoa powder, nuts, cookie pieces, and cookie dough are blended into the ice cream mixture.

Air is added to ice cream to improve its ability to absorb flavorings and to facilitate serving. Without air, ice cream becomes heavy and soggy. On the other hand, too much air results in ice cream that is snowy and dry. The federal government allows ice cream to contain as much as 100% of its volume in air, known in the industry as overrun.

Makers of high-quality ice cream (sometimes known as gourmet ice cream) use fresh whole dairy products, a low percentage of air (approximately 20%), between 16-20% butterfat, and as few additives as possible.

The Manufacturing
Process

Although ice cream is available in a variety of forms, including novelty items such as chocolate-dipped bars and sandwiches, the following description applies to ice cream that is packaged in pint and half-gallon containers.

Blending the mixture

• The milk arrives at the ice cream plant in refrigerated tanker trucks from local dairy farms. The milk is then pumped into 5,000 gal (18,925 1) storage silos that are kept at 36°F (2°C). Pipes bring the milk in pre-measured amounts to 1,000 gal (3,7851) stainless steel blenders. Premeasured amounts of eggs, sugar, and additives are blended with the milk for six to eight minutes.

Pasteurizing to kill bacteria

• The blended mixture is piped to the pasteurization machine, which is composed of a series of thin stainless steel plates. Hot water, approximately 182°F (83°C), flows on one side of the plates. The cold milk mixture is piped through on the other side. The water warms the mixture to a temperature of 180°F (82°C), effectively killing any existing bacteria.

Homogenizing to produce a uniform texture

• By the application of intensive air pressure, sometimes as much as 2,000 pounds per square inch (141 kg per sq cm), the hot mixture is forced through a small opening into the homogenizer. This breaks down the fat particles and prevents them from separating from the rest of the mixture. In the homogenizer, which is essentially a high-pressure piston pump, the mixture is further blended as it is drawn into the pump cylinder on the down stroke and then forced back out on the upstroke.

Cooling and resting to blend flavors

• The mixture is piped back to the pasteurizer where cold water, approximately 34°F (1°C), flows on one side of the plates as the mixture passes on the opposite side. In this manner, the mixture is cooled to 36°F (2° C). Then the mixture is pumped to 5,000 gal (18,925 1) tanks in a room set at 36°F (2°C), where it sits for four to eight hours to allow the ingredients to blend.

Flavoring the ice cream

• The ice cream is pumped to stainless steel vats, each holding up to 300 gal (1,136 1) of mixture. Flavorings are piped into the vats and blended thoroughly.

Freezing to soft-serve consistency

• Now the mixture must be frozen. It is pumped into continuous freezers that can freeze up to 700 gal (2,650 1) per hour. The temperature inside the freezers is kept at -40°F(-40°C), using liquid ammonia as a freezing agent. While the ice cream is in the freezer, air is injected into it. When the mixture leaves the freezer, it has the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

Adding fruit and sweetened chunks

• If chunks of food such as strawberry or cookie pieces are to be added to the ice cream, the frozen mixture is pumped to a fruit feeder. The chunks are loaded into a hopper at the top of the feeder. Another, smaller hopper, fitted with a starwheel, is located on the front of the feeder. An auger on the bottom of the machine turns the hoppers so that the chunks drop onto the starwheel in pre-measured amounts. As the mixture passes through the feeder, the starwheel pushes the food chunks into the ice cream. The mixture then moves to a blender where the chunks are evenly distributed.

Packaging and bundling the finished product

• Automatic filling machines drop preprinted pint or half-gallon-sized cardboard cartons into holders. The cartons are then filled with premeasured amounts of ice cream at the rate of 70-90 cartons per hour. The machine then places a lid on each cartons and pushes it onto a conveyer belt. The cartons move along the conveyer belt where they pass under a ink jet that spray-paints an expiration date and production code onto each carton. After the imprinting, the cartons move through the bundler, a heat tunnel that covers each cup with plastic shrink wrapping.

Hardening

• Before storage and shipping, the ice cream must be hardened to a temperature of -10°F (-23°C). The conveyer system moves the ice cream cartons to a tunnel set at -30°F (-34°C). Constantly turning ceiling fans create a wind chill of -60°F (-5 1°C). The cartons move slowly back and forth through the tunnel for two to three hours until the contents are rock solid. The cartons are then stored in refrigerated warehouses until they are shipped to retail outlets.

Quality Control

Every mixture is randomly tested during the production process. Butterfat and solid levels are tested. The bacteria levels are measured. Each mixture is also taste-tested.

Ice cream producers also carefully monitor the ingredients that they purchase from outside suppliers.

The Future

Ice cream manufacturers continue to develop new flavorings. Ironically, given the industry's experiences during Prohibition, one of the more recent innovations has been the introduction of liqueur-flavored ice creams.

Where to Learn More

Books

Dickson, Paul. The Great American Ice Cream Book. Atheneum, 1972.

Lager, Fred. Ben and Jerry's: The Inside Scoop. Crown Publishers, 1994.

Periodicals

"Centrifugal pumps handle chocolate: overcoming the challenges of pumping heavy products." Dairy Foods, September 1994.

Gorski, Donna. "A cordial challenge." Dairy Foods, January 1995.

O'Donnell, Claudia D. "The story behind the story: two dairy processors tell a tale of fruits, flavors and nuts." Dairy Foods, May 1993.

[Article by: Mary F. McNulty]

A commercial dairy food made by freezing while stirring a pasteurized mix of suitable ingredients. The product may include milk fat, nonfat milk solids, or milk-derived ingredients; other ingredients may include corn syrup, water, flavoring, egg products, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and other non-milk-derived ingredients. Air incorporated during the freezing process is also an important component.

The composition of ice cream may vary depending on whether it is an economy brand satisfying minimal requirements, a trade brand of average composition, or a premium brand of superior composition. The components by weight of an average-composition ice cream are 12% fat, 11% nonfat milk solids, 15% sugar, and 0.3% vegetable gum stabilizer.

Ice cream manufacturing ranges from small-batch operations, in which the ingredients are weighed or measured by hand, to large automated operations, where the ingredients are metered into the mix-making equipment. The liquid materials, including milk, cream, concentrated milk, liquid sugar syrup, and water, are mixed. The dry solids, such as nonfat dry milk, dried egg yolk, stabilizer, and emulsifier, are blended with the liquid ingredients. This liquid blend is known as the mix. Following the blending operation, the mix is pasteurized, homogenized, cooled, and aged. Pasteurization destroys all harmful microorganisms and improves the storage properties of the ice cream. Soluble flavoring materials are usually added to the mix just before the freezing process, but fruits, nuts, and candies are not added until the ice cream is discharged from the freezer. See also Pasteurization.

A frozen confection made from fat, milk solids, and sugar. Some countries permit the use of non-milk fat and term the product ice cream, while if milk fat is used, it is termed dairy ice cream.

According to UK regulations, contains not less than 5% fat and 7% other milk solids; according to US regulations, 10% milk fat and 20% other milk solids. Stabilizers such as carboxy methylcellulose, gums, and alginates are included, and emulsifiers such as polysorbate and monoglycerides. Mono- and diglycerides bind the looser globules of water and are added in ‘non-drip’ ice cream.

America's favorite dessert is thought to have originated in the mountains of ancient China, with snow probably used as the base. Today's ice cream is made with a combination of milk products (usually cream combined with fresh, condensed or dry milk), a sweetening agent (sugar, honey, corn syrup or artificial sweetener) and sometimes solid additions such as pieces of chocolate, nuts, fruit and so on. According to FDA regulations, ice creams with solid additions must contain a minimum of 8 percent milk fat, while plain ice creams must have at least 10 percent milk fat. French ice cream has a cooked egg-custard base. Ice milk is made in much the same way as ice cream, except for the fact that it contains less milk fat and milk solids. The result, other than a lowered calorie count, is a lighter, less creamy texture. Commercial ice creams usually contain stabilizers to improve both texture and body, and to help make them melt resistant. Many also contain artificial coloring. Those made with natural flavorings (for instance, chocolate) will be labeled simply "Chocolate Ice Cream." If the majority of the flavoring is natural with a boost from an artificial-flavor source, the label will read "Chocolate-Flavored Ice Cream"; if over 50 percent of the flavoring is artificial it will read "Artificial Chocolate Ice Cream." All commercial ice creams have "overrun," a term applied to the amount of air they contain. The percentage of overrun ranges from 0 (no air) to 200, a theoretical figure that would be all air. The legal overrun limit for ice cream is 100 percent, which would amount to half air. Ice cream needs some air or it would be rock-hard. But one with 100 percent overrun would have so little body that it would feel mushy in the mouth; it would also melt extremely fast. An ice cream with the more desirable proportion of 20 to 50 percent overrun (10 to 25 percent air) would be denser, creamier and eminently more satisfying. Since the overrun is not listed on the package, the only way to be absolutely sure is to weigh the carton. Ice cream with a 50 percent overrun (25 percent air) will weigh about 18 ounces per pint (subtract about 11⁄2 ounces for the weight of the container). The weight of the ice cream will be proportionately higher with a lower percentage of overrun. During storage, ice cream has a tendency to absorb other food odors and to form ice crystals. For that reason, it's best not to freeze it for more than 2 to 3 days. Sealing the carton airtight in a plastic bag will extend storage life up to a week. Ice cream is used for a plethora of delicious treats including baked alaskas, banana splits and ice-cream bars, sandwiches and cakes (cake layered with ice cream and frozen). See also gelato; ice; sherbet.

Italy apparently invented the delicious practice of adding sweetener and flavoring to cream and freezing it, and England heard of this iced cream before the colonies did, but we Americans can at least claim to have invented the modern name for it--dropping the d to make ice cream. In Philadelphia as long ago as 1744 there was mention of "some fine Ice Cream" served with strawberries and milk. For centuries after that, Philadelphia ice cream was the name for ice cream of a distinctive type, made without eggs. Philadelphia was also the birthplace of the ice cream soda. That first combination of America's favorite treat with America's favorite beverage took place in 1874 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

The rest of the country, too, participated in the enthusiasm for ice cream. When we did not make it by hand at home, we went in colonial days to ice cream houses, then in the early 1800s to ice cream gardens and ice cream saloons, and finally, toward the end of that century, to ice cream stands and ice cream parlors. And the process of making it was improved by Nancy Johnson's invention of the ice cream freezer in 1846.

A major invention of the late nineteenth century was the ice cream sundae. Its odd name comes from Sunday, but why is still anyone's guess. Some say it was first sold only on that day of the week. In 1904 St. Louis was the birthplace of what became known as the ice cream cone. It was invented at the world's fair there, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, supposedly when a vendor of ice cream ran out of cups and had edible ones made by a pastry shop next door. The twentieth century has also seen the American invention of the ice cream bar, which is on a stick with a coating; the ice cream sandwich; soft ice cream, which is dispensed from a spout; premium ice cream with the richest of ingredients; and imitation ice milk with the poorest.

For more information on ice cream, visit Britannica.com.

Ice cream, or iced cream as it was originally called, was once narrowly defined as a luxury dessert made of cream, sugar, and sometimes fruit congealed over ice. The techniques for making water ices and sorbets probably led to experimentation with cream and milk in Italy during the Renaissance although no recipes survive. On the other hand, there is clear literary evidence that this experimentation underwent considerable refinement in France during the seventeenth century, and that it was the French court of Louis XIV that first served ice creams at banquets. The use of snow and ice to cool wines was known to the Romans, and sorbets were well known to the Persians and Byzantine Greeks. It does not take a large leap in technology to go from sorbets to frozen creams, yet it was the use of sweet cream from cow's milk that originally made true ice cream possible. In fact, it is the rich milk from certain breeds of cattle that further defines the texture and flavor of this product.

Early Techniques

The original technique for making ice cream was relatively simple, although it was predicated on a good supply of ice or well-packed snow. A large pewter basin was filled with coarsely broken ice, over which the confectioner scattered salt. Salt lowers the melting temperature of the ice and thus induces evaporation. Another smaller pewter basin was set into the salted ice. This basin contained the cream, sugar (usually in the form of syrup), and flavoring—lemon being by far the most popular ice cream flavor until the 1850s. The small basin was then turned by hand and the cream mixture stirred gently until it congealed due to the cooling action of evaporation. Otherwise, it was still-frozen, then beaten once firm. This method is found in numerous recipes surviving from the latter half of the sixteenth century, as well as in quite a few eighteenth-century printed cookbooks, including the Receipts of Mary Eales and Hannah Glasse's Compleat Confectioner.

The cookbook of Mary Eales, which appeared in 1718, is considered the first to feature an ice cream recipe printed in English, and it varies in technique from the basin method just described. Eales placed her cream in pails in an ice chest and still-froze them, a method developed by professional French confectioners and similar in shape to the crank-turned freezers of the nineteenth century. The appearance of ice cream in domestic cookbooks of the period may be taken as evidence that ice cream had moved from strictly palace fare of earlier times to the tables of the literate well-to-do. This is confirmed in America by a 1744 reference to ice cream on the dessert table of Governor Blandon of Maryland—a thing to be marveled at and noted diligently in a dinner guest's diary. The governor's ice cream was served with fresh strawberries, a foreshadowing of the ubiquitous strawberry and ice cream festivals that today have become such an integral part of the American cultural scene. As for Governor Blandon, it goes without saying that many wealthy colonial Americans owned icehouses, which made such luxuries possible.

Implicit in the operation of making ice cream was the use of metal that transfers the cold temperature of the ice as quickly as possible to the cream. Pewter was the preferred metal of most ice cream makers down to the end of the nineteenth century, when it was replaced by other alloys. The reasons for replacing pewter were several: it pitted easily and it was soft. Complex molds made of pewter would eventually warp or bend, especially around the area of the hinges, which would lead to leaks and imperfectly shaped molded ices. Most important, pewter reacted chemically with acids in ice creams, thus forming toxic lead salts. This realization did not occur to confectioners until the chemistry of food became better understood; thus, it is highly probable that toxins in ice cream contributed to some of the maladies suffered by consumers in the past. This was certainly the case prior to pasteurization because freezing cream or milk does not kill microbes or prevent enzyme breakdown. However, none of these modern concerns affected the historical popularity of ice cream in Europe or America. It would probably be more accurate to say that ice cream became such a rage that its negative effects on the body were rarely mentioned even in medical literature. The loudest critics of ice cream bemoaned the costliness, for ice cream was indeed an expensive indulgence until the invention of the commercial ice cream maker in the late 1840s.

If French confectioners brought ice cream to the attention of the world by serving it at the French court, these same confectioners also codified the art of making ice cream so that, by the middle of the eighteenth century, numerous books could be consulted on ice cream making from A to Z. While the basin method was generally a technique employed in household confectionery, professionals made ice creams in ice chests and experimented with various substances to enhance freezing, including alum and saltpeter. The French also coined the term fromage glacé for true iced cream and introduced such unusual flavorings as cinnamon, chocolate, bergamot, and orange flower petals. The French in addition developed the concept of serving ice cream in tiny glasses, normally arranged on glass salvers. These standing displays, sometimes stacked very high, are depicted in quite a few confectionery books and necessitated the invention of tiny pointed spoons for eating the creams.

As ice creams became more fashionable, the formulas for making them also became more and more complex. This was especially true for ice creams that were molded because they required a firmer body than the old hand-whipped sorts. Cutting cream with milk and the addition of eggs, all of which was gently cooked until thick, became one of the signature methods used by French confectioners. Modern American ice cream producers generally call such cooked egg-thickened ice creams "French," as in French vanilla ice cream, although in the nineteenth century Sarah Rorer in Philadelphia and Agnes Marshall in London categorized them emphatically as Neapolitan. In fact, cooking the milk or cream was practiced by more than just French confectioners, and in America at least it was associated primarily with Italians. Neapolitan ice cream was also a specific flavor combination: three distinct layers, one green (pistachio), one white (vanilla), and one orange (orange flavor) in imitation when sliced of the Italian national flag.

The Popularity of Ice Cream

The French Revolution did much to spread the popularity of ice cream, especially in England and America, where refugee confectioners set up business. Some of the most active French confectioners settled in New York and Philadelphia, and their advertisements for ice creams are common in American newspapers from the 1790s into the 1820s. It was also during this period that ice cream gardens developed. They featured a confectionery shop where a variety of sweet foods were prepared, where wines and lemonades were served, and even elaborately planted flower gardens and, on occasion, musical entertainment. Since the best cream was seasonal—May and June being the optimal months—the ice cream gardens also offered cooked food to such an extent that many of them resembled outdoor restaurants. The cookery, however, was light, and for the most part appealed to women and children, since they could not enter oyster houses or taverns unless accompanied by a male. Ice cream gardens became safe havens where even teenage girls could socialize (or flirt) with budding admirers. Furthermore, ice cream gardens were off-limits to African Americans; thus in cities like Philadelphia, a number of black cooks established their own counterparts. Once commercial ice cream became less expensive, the ice cream garden was replicated by churches as a fundraising event under the name of an ice cream social.

The most famous ice cream in nineteenth-century America came from Philadelphia owing to the proximity of fine dairies, rich pasturage on which to feed the cows, and no small amount of local ingenuity. While several French confectioners established a penchant for rich ice creams during the 1790s, especially the demand for finely molded fromages glacés at supper parties and balls, it was the Parkinson family who put Philadelphia ice cream on the map.

George Parkinson and his wife Eleanor created a confectionery business that made Philadelphia vanilla ice cream a synonym for the city's haute cuisine. Their son James opened a restaurant in the early 1840s with an ice cream garden in the back—situated in the center of an elaborately pruned collection of roses. Parkinson's sales bills, advertisements, and surviving menus offer a rich selection of ice creams and ice cream sculptures. When Swedish singer Jenny Lind visited Philadelphia in 1850, Parkinson sent to her hotel room an ice cream harp complete with an ice cream nightingale perched on top (the singer was nicknamed the "Swedish Nightingale," hence the allusion). The ice cream was served on a huge silver platter together with a Bohemian glass ice cream service, molded jellies, and "iris-colored" cakes. Parkinson's showmanship did not go unrewarded. The story of the ice cream and Lind's response made national headlines. Parkinson's ice cream flamboyances and another important local development in the history of ice cream probably worked together to establish this food as a national dish. Ice cream is certainly viewed today as an American food, but its transformation would never have happened without Eber C. Seaman.

The Impact of the Crank-Turned Ice Cream Machine

Seaman was a New Jersey Quaker who invented a crank-turned ice cream machine, which he patented in 1848. His invention was first tested in the ice cream saloon of Mrs. E. A. Harbach, a Philadelphia confectioner also famous for her candies. Until the invention of Seaman's device, ice cream had to be made in small batches by hand. Seaman's crank-turned machine allowed one person to turn out many large batches of ice cream in a matter of hours. This brought down the unit cost of ice cream so that, within a short period of time, it became little more than a street commodity. Seaman's invention is what allowed the American love affair with ice cream to blossom. His large commercial machine was soon miniaturized so that anyone with a supply of ice could make their own ice cream by the quart or gallon. Thus, the hand-turned ice cream machine became a common household utensil by the 1880s, and numerous pamphlet-sized cookbooks were sold to go with them, all including detailed directions for ice cream recipes. One of the most popular brands of ice cream machine was the White Mountain, which gained many testimonials from leading cooks of the day.

Sarah Tyson Rorer of Philadelphia was a champion of such ice cream pamphleteering, primarily in her role of product endorsement. Rorer's New England counterpart was Mary J. Lincoln of the Boston Cooking School, whose magazines are today a gold mine of period ice cream recipes and illustrations, especially of the odd ways in which the creams were styled for presentation. One wonders whether her ice cream in the shape of a beef tongue realistically colored would have appealed to all sensibilities. On the other side of the Atlantic, Agnes B. Marshall of London not only offered her own patented ice cream freezer, a rich selection of elaborate ice cream molds, but also Marshall's patent ice cave for transporting ice creams to picnics, and two technical books on the subject: The Book of Ices (1894) and Fancy Ices (1922). Her domination of the late Victorian world of ice cream outshines the likes of either Rorer or Lincoln, and her cookery books are now considered classics of their genre. While Marshall is now part of history, her popularization of iced soufflés and especially of iced puddings has been long-lasting, especially in British cookery.

The future of ice cream, however, was not prophesized in the books of Marshall, but by Rorer. She broke down ice creams into these pragmatic categories: Philadelphia ice cream (using cream only), Neapolitan ice creams (frozen custards employing eggs), and ice creams from condensed milk or a product called evaporated cream. She also included in her 1913 cookbook a recipe for an "Alaska Bake" that was ice cream baked under a thick coating of meringue. In the last two examples, she was somewhat forward-looking in that baked Alaska became popular by the 1920s, and the shift away from natural ingredients to all sorts of artificial additives was already beginning to overtake commercial ice cream production in the early 1900s.

The first step in this evolution was the introduction of condensed milk by Gail Borden in 1856. Commercial thickeners appeared during the 1870s in the form of powders, such as powdered egg yolks, then various gelatin products, both animal-and plant-based. Finally, in 1899 the French introduced homogenizers that largely served as cream substitutes. This led to ice cream powders.

Espoused Health Benefits

Home ice cream making was always fraught with uncertainties, especially the achievement of good texture. Ice cream powder was introduced as a fail-safe remedy with health benefits thrown in for good measure. As one 1908 Jell-O cookbook claimed, "the healthfulness of good ice cream is beyond question. In many cases of illness the patients crave ice cream, and doctors and nurses tell us that it is usually good for them." This reasoning harks back to the Italian sorbets of the eighteenth century, which were often administered to patients suffering from high temperature. But those ices were primarily water and sweetened fruit juice, which the body metabolizes differently from dairy-based products.

The health slant was doubtless an attempt to adjust to the Pure Foods Act of 1906 because this same point is echoed across the board in most confectionery advertising of the period. After the United States acquired Cuba, the per capita consumption of sugar soared. Sugar began to permeate all aspects of the American diet, and this trend has not stopped. Yet, as an antidote to demon rum, the fountains of sugar at the ice cream parlor ("parlor" denotes respectability) or local drugstore became the morally correct culinary altar for Methodists, Baptists, and other dry denominations. It was in that blue law milieu that the ice cream sundae was born at Two Rivers, Michigan, in 1881. The sundae transformed plain ice cream into a rapture of chocolate syrup, chopped nuts, and candy tidbits known as nonpareils.

Ice Cream As a Part of Street Culture

Meanwhile, in cities where large communities of Italians settled, the hokey-pokey man became a fixture of popular street culture. He was an ice cream vendor and moving sandwich stand par excellence, with a small pushcart and a variety of Neapolitan flavors—Naples being the presumed origin of all the ice creamers in that line of work. The hokey-pokey man sold ice creams in paper cups and in paper cones so that customers could walk and eat at the same time. They also sold ice cream called penny licks. These were little glasses that contained a penny's worth of ice cream, a marketing gimmick aimed primarily at children. When the ice cream was eaten, the glass was given back to the vendor, who then washed it and refilled it for the next customer. The hokey-pokey man gave rise to a flavor of ice cream in cities like New York and London. In Philadelphia, his name attached itself to a hokey sandwich made with an antipasto salad of cold meats and lettuce now known as the hoagie.

The Ice-Cream Cone

The inventor of the ice-cream cone is not known, although claims abound. There is ample evidence that the concept existed in several forms long before the debut of the cone at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. The benefit of the cone was that the ice cream container could be eaten, yet if one is to accept the research of Brian Butko (2001), there was considerable resistance to the idea when it first attracted public attention. Hygiene was one reason, sticky fingers another. The public perception of ice cream was that it should be clean, like milk itself, a food that was both basic and culturally defining. The ice cream parlor and the drugstore soda fountain probably did more to help the ice cream cone gain acceptability in the long run, but it was the carefully wrapped ice cream snacks of the 1920s that eventually captured the market.

That ice cream should assume its hallowed place beside the drug counter during Prohibition may seem at first glance the most remarkable of fates, but it was the original idea that ice cream was both safe and healthy that allowed it to invade the domain of the local apothecary. Temperance instilled Americans with a love of drugs as a substitute for luxury: patent medicines were mostly alcohol, and the tempering qualities of ice cream were not known to cause a Fourth of July picnic to degenerate into debauchery. Perhaps this is one reason why American ice cream evolved into yet another branch of frozen snacks during the 1920s. Perhaps it was also due to a shift in lifestyles and altruistic spin-offs geared toward Hollywood and a need to provide movie theaters with frozen finger foods. Whatever the reason, one of the most important additions to the ice cream story arrived in the form of ice cream "novelties," to use a term then current.

Ice Cream Novelties

This included such portable snack foods as the ice-cream sandwich, the popsicle, and the Klondike, which is today the most popular of all ice cream products of this type. Most of these foods were born about the same time. Eskimo Pies were first marketed in 1921. Good Humor's ice cream "suckers" initially appeared in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1922. And in response to the success of Eskimo Pies, Isaly's of Pittsburgh created the Klondike, its polar bear logo curiously similar to the polar bear used by Marshall in her famous book of ices. Isaly's went on to become a household name in the Midwest, and their popular skyscraper cones left no doubt that even ice cream could assume phallic meanings.

Ice Cream in the Twenty-First Century

Ice cream has now come full circle. Most of it is extremely cheap and for this reason it has lost its sexiness. Low-fat dieticians have decried it as the frozen grease that clogs our veins. Ice cream has become for many the moral opposite of granola or a raw carrot. However, people gorge on ice cream that they feel is safer, which has not only lost its cream, but instead is made entirely of nondairy products, euphemisms for ingredients that never passed through a cow. It might be far more healthful to eat real ice cream in moderation and enjoy a long walk afterwards. This seems to be the rallying cry of the Slow Food Movement and other present-day culinary groups dedicated to revitalizing ice cream, and to restoring its flavor and cultural significance.

Bibliography

Butko, Brian. Klondikes, Chipped Ham, and Skyscraper Cones. Mechanicsburg, Penn.: Stackpole, 2001.

Ciocca, Giuseppe. Gelati. Dolci freddi, rinfreschi, bebite refriger-anti. Milan: 1926.

Cox, J. Stevens. Ice-Creams of Queen Victoria's Reign. St. Peter Port (Guernsey): Toucan Press, 1970.

Eales, Mary. Mrs. Eales' Receipts. London: Meere, 1718.

Emy. L'art de bien faire les glaces d'office. Paris: Le Clerc, 1768.

David, Elizabeth. "Hunt the Ice Cream." Petits propos culinaires 1 (1979): 8–13.

David, Elizabeth. "Fromages glacés and Iced Creams." Petits propos culinaires 2 (1979): 23–35.

Harris, Henry G., and S. P. Borella. All about Ices, Jellies, Creams, and Conserves. London: Maclaren and Sons, 1926.

Hyde, K. A., and J. Rothwell. Ice Cream. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill Livingstone, 1973.

Marshall, Agnes B. The Book of Ices. London: Marshall's School of Cookery, 1894.

Marshall, Agnes B. Fancy Ices. London: Marshall's School of Cookery, 1922.

Nutt, Frederick. The Complete Confectioner. New York: Richard Scott, 1807.

Parkinson, Eleanor. The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, andBaker. Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1844.

Rorer, Sarah Tyson. Mrs. Rorer's Ice Creams, Water Ices, Frozen Puddings. Philadelphia: Arnold and Company, 1913.

Senn, Charles Herman. Ices and How to Make Them. London: Universal Cookery and Food Association, 1900.

Stallings, W. S. Ice Creams and Water Ices in 17th and 18th Century England. London: Prospect Books, 1979. Issued as a supplement to Petits propos culinaires 3.

Williams, Mrs. H. Llewellyn. The Ice Book. Iced Beverages, IceCreams, and Ices. New York: Wehman, 1891.

—William Woys Weaver

Ice cream is often associated with childhood. Alternatively, the dreamer may be celebrating a release of cold, repressed emotions that have melted to the heart of some situation.

For other uses, see Ice cream (disambiguation).

Ice Cream

A bowl of ice cream
Origin
Place of origin	Mesopotamia
Dish details
Course served	Snack, dessert
Serving temperature	Cold

Look up ice cream in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavorings and colorings are used in addition to (or in replacement of) the natural ingredients. This mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming; the result is a smoothly textured ice cream.

The meaning of the term ice cream varies from one country to another. Terms like frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato and others are used to distinguish different varieties and styles. In some countries, like the USA, the term ice cream applies only to a specific variety, and their governments regulate the commercial use of all these terms based on quantities of ingredients.^[1] In others, like Italy and Argentina, one word is used for all the variants. Alternatives made from soy milk, rice milk, and goat milk are available to those who are unable to tolerate traditional ice cream due to lactose intolerance or allergy to dairy protein.

Contents 1 Production 2 Commercial delivery 3 Dietary 4 History 4.1 Precursors of ice cream 4.2 True ice cream 5 Ice cream throughout the world 5.1 Argentina 5.2 Australia and New Zealand 5.3 Finland 5.4 France 5.5 Germany 5.6 Ghana 5.7 Greece 5.8 India and Pakistan 5.9 Italy 5.10 Japan 5.11 Philippines 5.12 Spain 5.13 Turkey 5.14 United Kingdom 5.15 United States 6 Ice cream cone 7 Other frozen desserts 8 Using liquid nitrogen 9 See also 10 Notes 11 External links

Production

Before the development of modern refrigeration, ice cream was a luxury reserved for special occasions. Making it was quite laborious. Ice was cut from lakes and ponds during the winter and stored in holes in the ground, or in wood-frame or brick ice houses, insulated by straw. Many farmers and plantation owners, including U.S. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, cut and stored ice in the winter for use in the summer. Frederic Tudor of Boston turned ice harvesting and shipping into big business, cutting ice in New England and shipping it around the world.

Ice cream was made by hand in a large bowl placed inside a tub filled with ice and salt. This was called the pot-freezer method. French confectioners refined the pot-freezer method, making ice cream in a sorbtierre (a covered pail with a handle attached to the lid). In the pot-freezer method, the temperature of the ingredients is reduced by the mixture of crushed ice and salt. The salt water is cooled by the ice, and the action of the salt on the ice causes it to (partially) melt, absorbing latent heat and bringing the mixture below the freezing point of pure water. The immersed container can also make better thermal contact with the salty water and ice mixture than it could with ice alone.

The hand-cranked churn, which also uses ice and salt for cooling, replaced the pot-freezer method. The exact origin of the hand-cranked freezer is unknown, but the first U.S. patent for one was #3254 issued to Nancy Johnson on September 9, 1843. The hand-cranked churn produced smoother ice cream than the pot freezer and did it quicker. Many inventors patented improvements on Johnson's design.

In Europe and early America, ice cream was made and sold by small businesses, mostly confectioners and caterers. Jacob Fussell of Baltimore, Maryland was the first to manufacture ice cream on a large scale. Fussell bought fresh dairy products from farmers in York County, Pennsylvania, and sold them in Baltimore. An unstable demand for his dairy products often left him with a surplus of cream, which he made into ice cream. He built his first ice-cream factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, in 1851. Two years later, he moved his factory to Baltimore. Later, he opened factories in several other cities and taught the business to others, who operated their own plants. Mass production reduced the cost of ice cream and added to its popularity.

An electric ice cream maker

The development of industrial refrigeration by German engineer Carl von Linde during the 1870s eliminated the need to cut and store natural ice and when the continuous-process freezer was perfected in 1926, it allowed commercial mass production of ice cream and the birth of the modern ice cream industry.

The most common method for producing ice cream at home is to use an ice cream maker, in modern times generally an electrical device that churns the ice cream mixture while cooled inside a household freezer, or using a solution of pre-frozen salt and water, which gradually melts while the ice cream freezes. Some more expensive models have an inbuilt freezing element. A newer method of making home-made ice cream is to add liquid nitrogen to the mixture while stirring it using a spoon or spatula. Some ice cream recipes call for making a custard, folding in whipped cream, and immediately freezing the mixture.

Commercial delivery

A bicycle-based ice cream vendor in Indonesia

Ice cream can be mass-produced and thus is widely available in developed parts of the world. Ice cream can be purchased in large cartons (vats and squrounds) from supermarkets and grocery stores, in smaller quantities from ice cream shops, convenience stores, and milk bars, and in individual servings from small carts or vans at public events. In Turkey and Australia, ice cream is sometimes sold to beach-goers from small powerboats equipped with chest freezers. Some ice cream distributors sell ice cream products from traveling refrigerated vans or carts (commonly referred to in the US as "ice cream trucks"), sometimes equipped with speakers playing children's music. Traditionally, ice cream vans in the United Kingdom make a music box noise rather than actual music.

Dietary

Ice cream may have the following composition:

Greater than 10% milkfat and usually between 10% and as high as 16%
fat in some premium ice creams:
9 to 12% milk solids-not-fat: this component, also known as the serum solids, contains the proteins (caseins and whey proteins) and carbohydrates (lactose) found in milk:
12 to 16% sweeteners: usually a combination of sucrose and glucose-based corn syrup sweeteners:
0.2 to 0.5% stabilizers and emulsifiers:
55% to 64% water which comes from the milk or other ingredients.

^[2] These compositions are percentage by weight. Since ice cream can contain as much as half air by volume, these numbers may be reduced by as much as half if cited by volume. In terms of dietary considerations, however, the percentages by weight are more relevant.

Even the low fat products have high caloric content: Ben and Jerry's No Fat Vanilla Fudge contains 150 calories per half cup due to its high sugar content.^[3]

History

Precursors of ice cream

Ancient civilizations have served ice for cold foods for thousands of years.^{[citation needed]} Mesopotamia has the earliest icehouses in existence, 4,000 years ago, beside the Euphrates River, where the wealthy stored items to keep them cold.^{[citation needed]} The pharaohs of Egypt had ice shipped to them.^{[citation needed]} In the fifth century BC, ancient Greeks sold snow cones mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens.^{[citation needed]} Persians, having mastered the storage of ice, ate chilled desserts well into summer.^{[citation needed]} Roman Emperor Nero (37–68) had ice brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings. These were some early chilled delicacies.^[4]

Ancient Persians mastered the technique of storing ice inside giant naturally-cooled refrigerators known as yakhchals. These structures kept ice brought in from the winter, or from nearby mountains, well into the summer. They worked by using tall windcatchers that kept the sub-level storage space at frigid temperatures.

In 400 BC, Persians invented a special chilled pudding-like dish, made of rose water and vermicelli which was served to royalty during summers. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavors. The treat, widely made in Iran today, is called "faloodeh", and is made from starch (usually wheat), spun in a sieve-like machine which produces threads or drops of the batter, which are boiled in water. The mix is then frozen, and mixed with rose water and lemons, before serving.^{[citation needed]}

In 62 AD, the Roman emperor Nero sent slaves to the Apennine mountains to collect snow to be flavored with honey and nuts.^[5]

Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat asserts in her History of Food, "the Chinese may be credited with inventing a device to make sorbets and ice cream. They poured a mixture of snow and saltpetre over the exteriors of containers filled with syrup, for, in the same way as salt raises the boiling-point of water, it lowers the freezing-point to below zero."^[6][7] (Toussaint does not provide historical documentation for this.)

In the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi where it was used in fruit sorbets.^[8]

When Italian duchess Catherine de' Medici married the duc d’Orléans in 1533, she is said to have brought with her Italian chefs who had recipes for flavored ices or sorbets and introduced them in France.^[9] One hundred years later, Charles I of England was supposedly 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.^[10] There is, however, no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century.

The first recipe for flavored ices in French appears in 1674, in Nicholas Lemery’s Recueil de curiositéz rares et nouvelles de plus admirables effets de la nature.^[9]

Recipes for sorbetti saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latini's Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward).^[9]

Recipes for flavored ices begin to appear in François Massialot's Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits starting with the 1692 edition. Massialot's recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. However, Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the fine consistency of sugar and snow.^[9]

True ice cream

Ice cream recipes first appear in 18th century England and America. A recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in 1718.^[11]

To ice CREAM. Take Tin Ice-Pots, fill them with any Sort of Cream you like, either plain or sweeten'd, or Fruit in it; shut your Pots very close; to six Pots you must allow eighteen or twenty Pound of Ice, breaking the Ice very small; there will be some great Pieces, which lay at the Bottom and Top: You must have a Pail, and lay some Straw at the Bottom; then lay in your Ice, and put in amongst it a Pound of Bay-Salt; set in your Pots of Cream, and lay Ice and Salt between every Pot, that they may not touch; but the Ice must lie round them on every Side; lay a good deal of Ice on the Top, cover the Pail with Straw, set it in a Cellar where no Sun or Light comes, it will be froze in four Hours, but it may stand longer; than take it out just as you use it; hold it in your Hand and it will slip out. When you wou'd freeze any Sort of Fruit, either Cherries, Rasberries, Currants, or Strawberries, fill your Tin-Pots with the Fruit, but as hollow as you can; put to them Lemmonade, made with Spring-Water and Lemmon-Juice sweeten'd; put enough in the Pots to make the Fruit hang together, and put them in Ice as you do Cream.

The earliest reference to ice cream given by the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1744, reprinted in a magazine in 1877. 1744 in Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. (1877) I. 126 Among the rarities..was some fine ice cream, which, with the strawberries and milk, eat most deliciously.^[12]

The 1751 edition of The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse features a recipe for ice cream. OED gives her recipe: H. GLASSE Art of Cookery (ed. 4) 333 (heading) To make Ice Cream..set it [sc. the cream] into the larger Bason. Fill it with Ice, and a Handful of Salt.^[12]

1768 saw the publication of L'Art de Bien Faire les Glaces d'Office by M. Emy, a cookbook devoted entirely to recipes for flavored ices and ice cream.^[9]

Ice cream was introduced to the United States by Quaker colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Confectioners sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. First Lady Dolley Madison is also closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the United States. One respected history of ice cream states that, as the wife of U.S. President James Madison, she served ice cream at her husband's Inaugural Ball in 1813.

Around 1832, Augustus Jackson, an African American confectioner, not only created multiple ice cream recipes, but he also invented a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.^[13]

In 1843, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia was issued the first U.S. patent for a small-scale handcranked ice cream freezer. The invention of the ice cream soda gave Americans a new treat, adding to ice cream's popularity. This cold treat was probably invented by Robert Green in 1874, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove his claim.

Ice cream sundaes with fruit, nuts, and a wafer

The ice cream sundae originated in the late 19th century. Several men claimed to have created the first sundae, but there is no conclusive evidence to back up any of their stories. Some sources say that the sundae was invented to circumvent blue laws, which forbade serving sodas on Sunday. Towns claiming to be the birthplace of the sundae include Buffalo, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Ithaca, New York; and Evanston, Illinois. Both the ice cream cone and banana split became popular in the early 20th century. Several food vendors claimed to have invented the ice cream cone at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, MO, and reliable evidence proves that the ice cream cone was popularized at the fair. However, Europeans were eating cones long before 1904.^[14][15]

In the UK, ice cream remained an expensive and rare treat, until large quantities of ice began to be imported from Norway and the US in the mid Victorian era. A Swiss-Italian businessman, Carlo Gatti, opened the first ice cream stall outside Charing Cross station in 1851, selling scoops of ice cream in shells for one penny.^[16] The penny lick soon became popular, remaining on sale until banned in 1926,^{[citation needed]} by which time it had been replaced by the ice cream cone.

George and Davis' Ice Cream Cafe on Little Clarendon Street, Oxford.

The history of ice cream in the 20th century is one of great change and increases in availability and popularity. In the United States in the early 20th century, the ice cream soda was a popular treat at the soda shop, the soda fountain, and the ice cream parlor. During American Prohibition, the soda fountain to some extent replaced the outlawed alcohol establishments such as bars and saloons.

Ice cream became popular throughout the world in the second half of the 20th century after cheap refrigeration became common. There was an explosion of ice cream stores and of flavors and types. Vendors often competed on the basis of variety. Howard Johnson's restaurants advertised "a world of 28 flavors." Baskin-Robbins made its 31 flavors ("one for every day of the month") the cornerstone of its marketing strategy. The company now boasts that it has developed over 1000 varieties.

One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of soft ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member)^[17][18] discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby reducing costs. This ice cream was also popular amongst consumers who preferred the lighter texture, and most major ice cream brands now use this manufacturing process.^{[citation needed]} It also made possible the soft ice cream machine in which a cone is filled beneath a spigot on order. In the United States, Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Tastee-Freez pioneered in establishing chains of soft-serve ice cream outlets.

Technological innovations such as these have introduced various food additives into ice cream, notably the stabilizing agent gluten,^[19] to which some people have an intolerance. Recent awareness of this issue has prompted a number of manufacturers to start producing gluten-free ice cream.^[20]

The 1980s saw a return of the older, thicker ice creams being sold as "premium" and "superpremium" varieties under brands such as Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs.

Ice cream throughout the world

Argentina

A small ice cream cone in Salta, Argentina

The tradition of ice cream making was taken to Argentina by many Italian immigrants.^{[citation needed]} While industrial ice cream exists in Argentina and can be found in supermarkets, restaurants or kiosks, and ice cream pops are sold on some streets and at the beaches, the most traditional Argentinean helado (ice cream) is very similar to Italian gelato, rather than US-style ice cream, and it has become one of the most popular desserts in the country. Among the most famous manufacturers are Freddo, Persicco, Chungo and Munchi's, all of them located in Buenos Aires. However, each city has its own heladerías (ice cream parlours) which offer different varieties of creamy and water-based ice creams, including both standard and regional flavors. There are hundreds of flavors but Argentina's most traditional and popular one is dulce de leche, which has become a favorite abroad, especially in the US.

There are two kinds of heladerías in Argentina: the cheaper ones which sell ice cream with artificial ingredients (like Helarte, Pirulo and Sei Tu), and the ones that sell helado artesanal, made with natural ingredients and usually distinguished by a logo featuring an ice cream cone and the letters HA. There are no regulations in Argentina regarding the amount of milk an ice cream can have. In fact, all ice cream parlors serve both cream-based and water-based ice cream (helado a la crema and helado al agua respectively). Instead, the distinctions are made according to the quality of the ingredients.

Unlike most other countries, a standard Argentinean cone or cup contains two different flavors of ice cream. In addition to these, most heladerías offer ice-cream-based desserts like Bombón Suizo (Swiss Bombom: chocolate-covered chantilly ice cream filled with dulce de leche and sprinkled with nuts), Bombón Escocés (Scottish Bombom: same as the Swiss Bombom, only with chocolate ice-cream and white chocolate topping), Cassata (strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream) and Almendrado (almond ice cream sprinkled with almond praline).

Australia and New Zealand

An ice cream van at Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia

Per capita, Australians and New Zealanders are among the leading ice cream consumers in the world, eating 18 liters and 20 liters each per year respectively, behind the United States where people eat 23 liters each per year.^[21] Brands include Tip Top, Streets, Peters, Sara Lee, New Zealand Natural, Cadbury, and Baskin-Robbins.

Finland

The first ice cream manufacturer in Finland was the Italian Magi family, who opened the Helsingin jäätelötehdas in 1922 and Suomen Eskimo Oy. Other manufacturers soon spawned, like Pietarsaaren jäätelötehdas (1928-2002).

Finland's first ice cream bar opened at the Lasipalatsi in 1936, and at the same time another manufacturer, Maanviljelijäin Maitokeskus started their production.

Today, the two largest ice cream manufacturers are Ingman and Nestlé (who bought Valiojäätelö). Finland is also the leading consumer of ice cream in Europe, with 13.7 liters per person in 2003.^[22]

France

In 1651, Italian Francesco dei Coltelli opened an ice cream café in Paris and the product became so popular that during the next 50 years another 250 cafés opened in Paris.^[23][24] Some "French Style" ice creams are made with butter in place of cream.^{[citation needed]} Some people eat heart or log shaped cakes made of ice cream on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.^[25]

Germany

Italian ice cream parlors (Eisdielen) have been popular in Germany since the 1920s, when many Italians immigrated and set up business. As in Italy itself, ice cream is considered a traditional dessert and the ice cream at an Eisdiele is still mostly hand-made.

Ghana

In 1962,^[26] the popular Ghanaian treat FanMilk was created by the Fan Milk Limited company. FanIce comes in strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. FanMilk also makes additional products, though FanIce is the closest to Western ice cream. Pouches of FanIce and other FanMilk products can be bought from men on bikes equipped with chill boxes in any moderately sized town, and in cities large enough for grocery stores, FanMilk can be bought in tubs for eating at home.

Greece

Ice cream in its modern form is a relatively new invention. Ice treats have been enjoyed since ancient times. During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice "as it livens the lifejuices and increases the well-being."^[27] In the 4th century BC, it was well known that a favorite treat of Alexander the Great was snow ice mixed with honey and nectar.^[28] In modern times Greek ice cream recipes have some unique flavors such as Pagoto Kaimaki, (Greek: Παγωτό Καϊμάκι), made from mastic-resin which gives it an almost chewy texture, and salepi, used as a thickening agent to increase resistance to melting; both give the ice cream a unique taste; Olive Oil Ice Cream with figs; Pagoto Kataifi Chocolate, (Greek: Παγωτό Καταΐφι-κακάο), made from the shredded filo dough pastry that resembles angel's hair pasta or vermicelli; and Mavrodaphne Ice Cream, (Greek: Μαυροδάφνη Παγωτό), made from a Greek dessert wine. Fruity Greek Sweets of the Spoon are usually served as toppings with Greek-inspired ice cream flavors.

India and Pakistan

Kulfi is a traditional dessert that is much denser than traditional ice cream; it is also very popular and widely consumed in both countries. With the presence of major ice cream brands like, AMUL, Havmor, Kwality Walls, Mother Dairy and Vadilal there is a countrywide availability of various ice cream flavors. There are also ice cream joints like that of Baskin Robbins, Natural's which have some unique flavors of ice creams and are costlier then packaged ice cream. There are also famous ice cream shops like Sujata in Pune.

Italy

Italian ice cream in Rome

Ice cream is a traditional dessert in Italy. Much is still hand-made by individual gelateria in "produzione propria" ice cream shops. Italian ice cream or gelato is made from whole milk, eggs, sugar, and natural flavorings. Gelato typically contains 7-8% fat, less than ice cream's minimum of 10%.

Before the cone became popular for serving ice cream, in English speaking countries, Italian street vendors would serve the ice cream in a small glass dish referred to as a "penny lick" or wrapped in waxed paper and known as a hokey-pokey (possibly a corruption of the Italian "ecco un poco" - "here is a little").^[29]

Some of the most known ice cream machine makers are Italian companies Carpigiani, Crm-Telme, Corema-Telme, Technogel, Cattabriga, Matrix, and Promag.

Japan

Mochi ice cream sold in Japan

Japanese green tea ice cream with anko sauce

Ice cream is also a popular dessert in Japan, with almost two in five adults eating some at least once a week, according to a recent survey.^[30] Since 1999, the Japanese Ice Cream Association has been publishing the Ice Cream White Paper once a year, and the four most popular ice cream flavors in Japan has not changed (including their orders) since 1999 according to the Paper.^[31] The top four flavors are vanilla, chocolate, matcha (powdered green tea), and strawberry. Other notable popular flavors are milk, caramel, and azuki (Red Bean) also according to the Paper.^[31] Azuki is particularly favored by people in their 50s and older.^[31] While matcha is a truly Japanese flavor favored by Japanese and well-known among non-Japanese outside of Japan, plum and ginger, tastes often presented as Japanese flavors outside of Japan, did not make the cut in the top 17 favorite flavor list in 2006.^[31] In Japan, a soft serve ice cream is called softcream which is also very popular. As a seasonal treat during the cherry blossom season, ice cream is available that is actually flavored with cherry blossoms.

Philippines

Main article: Sorbetes

Sorbetes is a Filipino version for common ice cream usually peddled from carts that roam streets in the Philippines. This should not be confused with the known sorbet. It is also commonly called 'dirty ice cream' because it is sold along the streets exposing it to pollution and that the factory where it comes from is usually unknown; though it is not really "dirty" as the name implies. It is usually served with small wafer or sugar cones and recently, bread buns.

Spain

Ice cream, in the style of Italian gelato, can be found in many cafes or specialty ice cream stores throughout. Usually the flavors reflect local tastes like nata, crema catalana, or tiramisu.

Turkey

See Dondurma for Turkish ice cream.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, per capita consumption of ice cream is 6 liters per year.^{[citation needed]} A product may be sold as "ice cream" if it contains 5 per cent fat and not less than 2.5 per cent milk protein, but may contain non-milk vegetable fats and oils, usually hydrogenated palm kernel oil, which is more permissive than many other countries. Only true ice cream made only with milk fats (though not necessarily cream) can be described as dairy ice cream, and many companies make sure that dairy is prominently displayed on their packaging and advertising.^[32]

United States

In the United States, ice cream made with just cream, sugar, and a flavoring (usually fruit) is sometimes referred to as "Philadelphia style"^[33] ice cream. Ice creams made with eggs, usually in the form of custards, are "French" ice creams.^[34]

American federal labeling standards require ice cream to contain a minimum of 10% milk fat (about 7 grams (g) of fat per 1/2 cup [120 mL] serving) and 20% total milk solids by weight.^[35]

Ice cream is an extremely popular dessert in the United States. Americans consume about 15 quarts (more than 13 liters) of ice cream per person per year — the most in the world.^[36] Although chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry are the traditional favorite flavors of ice cream, and once enjoyed roughly equal popularity, vanilla has grown to be far and away the most popular. According to the International Ice Cream Association (1994), supermarket sales of ice cream break down as follows: vanilla, 28%; fruit flavors, 15%; nut flavors, 13.5%; candy mix-in flavors, 12.5%; chocolate, 8%; cake and cookie flavors, 7.5%; Neapolitan, 7%; and coffee/mocha, 3%. Other flavors combine for 5.5%. Sales in ice cream parlors are more variable, as new flavors come and go, but about three times as many people call vanilla their favorite than chocolate, the runner-up.

Federal government regulations pertaining to the process of making ice cream, allowable ingredients, and standards, may be found in Part 135 of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations.^[37] As a rule, ice cream must contain not less than 10 percent milkfat, nor less than 10 percent nonfat milk solids.^[38]

Ice cream cone

Strawberry ice cream in a cone.

Main article: Ice cream cone

Mrs Marshall's Cookery Book, published in 1888, endorsed serving ice cream in cones, but the idea definitely predated that. Agnes Marshall was a celebrated cookery writer of her day and helped to popularize ice cream. She patented and manufactured an ice cream maker and was the first person to suggest using liquefied gases to freeze ice cream after seeing a demonstration at the Royal Institution.

Reliable evidence proves that ice cream cones were served in the 19th century, and their popularity increased greatly during the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. According to legend, at the World's Fair an ice cream seller had run out of the cardboard dishes used to put ice cream scoops in, so they could not sell any more produce. Next door to the ice cream booth was a Syrian waffle booth, unsuccessful due to intense heat; the waffle maker offered to make cones by rolling up his waffles and the new product sold well, and was widely copied by other vendors.^[39][40]

Other frozen desserts

The following is a partial list of ice cream-like frozen desserts and snacks:

Raspberry sorbet.

• Ais kacang: a dessert in Malaysia and Singapore made from shaved ice, syrup, and boiled red bean and topped with chocolate sauce and evaporated milk. Sometimes, other small ingredients like raspberries and durians are added in too.
• Dondurma: Turkish ice cream, made of salep and mastic resin
• Frozen custard: at least 10% milk fat and at least 1.4% egg yolk and much less air beaten into it, similar to Gelato, fairly rare. Known in Italy as Semifreddo.
• Frozen yogurt: a low fat or fat free alternative made with yogurt
• Gelato: an Italian frozen dessert having a lower milk fat content than ice cream and stabilized with ingredients such as eggs.
• Ice milk: less than 10% milk fat and lower sweetening content, once marketed as "ice milk" but now sold as low-fat ice cream in the United States.
• Ice pop (or lolly): frozen fruit puree, fruit juice, or flavored sugar water on a stick or in a flexible plastic sleeve.
• Kulfi: Believed to have been introduced to South Asia by the Mughal conquest in the 16th century; its origins trace back to the cold snacks and desserts of Arab and Mediterranean cultures.^[41]
• Mellorine: non-dairy, with vegetable fat substituted for milk fat
• Sherbet: 1-2% milk fat and sweeter than ice cream.
• Sorbet: fruit puree with no dairy products
• Snow cones, made from balls of crushed ice topped with sweet syrup served in a paper cone, are consumed in many parts of the world. The most common places to find snow cones in the United States are at amusement parks.
• Maple toffee: A popular springtime treat in maple-growing areas is maple toffee, where maple syrup boiled to a concentrated state is poured over fresh snow congealing in a toffee-like mass, and then eaten from a wooden stick used to pick it up from the snow.

Using liquid nitrogen

Dippin' Dots Flavored Ice Cream

Using liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream is an old idea and has been used for many years to harden ice cream. However, the use of liquid nitrogen in the primary freezing of ice cream, that is to effect the transition from the liquid to the frozen state without the use of a conventional ice cream freezer, has only recently started to see commercialization. Some commercial innovations have been documented in the National Cryogenic Society Magazine "Cold Facts".^[42] The most noted brands are Dippin' Dots,^[43] Blue Sky Creamery,^[44] Project Creamery,^[45] and Sub Zero Cryo Creamery.^[46] The preparation results in a column of white condensed water vapor cloud, reminiscent of popular depictions of witches' cauldrons. The ice cream, dangerous to eat while still "steaming," is allowed to rest until the liquid nitrogen is completely vaporized. Sometimes ice cream is frozen to the sides of the container, and must be allowed to thaw.

Making ice cream with liquid nitrogen has advantages over conventional freezing. Due to the rapid freezing, the crystal grains are smaller, giving the ice cream a creamier texture, and allowing one to get the same texture by using less milkfat. However, such ice crystals will grow very quickly via the processes of recrystallization thus obviating the original benefits unless steps are taken to inhibit ice crystal growth.

See also

• Arctic roll
• Baked Alaska
• Brain freeze
• Freeze-dried ice cream (astronaut ice cream)
• Fried ice cream
• Gelato
• Ice cream cone
• Ice cream sandwich
• Italian ice
• List of ice cream brands
• Mix-in
• National Ice Cream Month
• Snow cream
• Soft serve
• Tasti D-Lite
• Ice cream parlor

Notes

This article uses bare URLs. Please help improve this article by turning bare URLs into proper citations containing all of the information on the referenced work's title, date, publisher, publication, and author, so that the article remains verifiable in the future. (There are several templates available that can help to make formatting such citations simple.) This page may also be able to help find problematic links. (August 2008)

1. ^ "Ice Cream Labeling: What Does it all Mean?". International Foodservice Distributors Association. http://www.idfa.org/facts/icmonth/page5.cfm. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
2. ^ Goff, H. Douglas. "Ice Cream Ingredients". Dairy Science and Technology Education Series. University of Guelph. http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/icingr.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
3. ^ Kendall, Pat (2000-06-25). "Ice Cream - What's in a Scoop?". Colorado State University. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/columnnn/nn000725.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
4. ^ Andrews, Tamra (2000). Nectar and Ambrosia:An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576070369. OCLC 224083021 44612908 pages=121. 
5. ^ Mallare, Cathy. "The story of ice cream". web institute for teachers. webinstituteforteachers.org. http://webinstituteforteachers.org/~cbmallare/History1.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-16. 
6. ^ Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne (2005). A history of food. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 749–750. ISBN 9780631194972. OCLC 223367668 34109401 46978888 54663098 55534294 62287134. 
7. ^ Olver, Lynne (2007-09-30). "ice cream & ice". Food Timeline. http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodicecream.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
8. ^ Tannahill, Reay (1989). Food in History. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88404-6. OCLC 32450569 41417694 41448271. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} Powell, Marilyn (2005). Cool: The Story of Ice Cream. Toronto: Penguin Canada. ISBN 978-0-14-305258-6. OCLC 59136553. http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_9780143052586,00.html?sym=EXC. 
10. ^ Goff, H. Douglas. "Ice Cream History and Folklore". Dairy Science and Technology Education Series. University of Guelph. http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/ichist.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
11. ^ Eales, Mary (1985) [1718]. Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts. London: Prospect Books. ISBN 0-907325-25-4. OCLC 228661650. 
12. ^ ^{a b} "ice cream, n." The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 27 March 2008 <http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50110937>.
13. ^ Bellis, Mary. "Augustus Jackson". Inventors. About.com. http://inventors.about.com/od/ijstartinventors/a/AugustusJackson.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
14. ^ Weir, Robert J.. "An 1807 Ice Cream Cone: Discovery and Evidence". Historic Food. http://www.historicfood.com/Ice%20Cream%20Cone.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
15. ^ Stradley, Linda (2004). "History of Ice Cream Cone". What's Cooking America. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IceCream/IceCreamCone.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
16. ^ Stephens, Nick (2007-03-28). "Wine Flavoured Ice Cream". Bordeaux-Undiscovered. http://bordeaux-undiscovered.blogspot.com/2007/03/wine-flavoured-ice-cream.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-04. 
17. ^ Margaret Thatcher
18. ^ J. Lyons & Co
19. ^ Pat Kendall, Ph.D., R.D. (March 31, 2003). "Gluten sensitivity more widespread than previously thought". Colorado State University Extension. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/columnnn/nn030331.html. 
20. ^ "Haagen-Dazs: FAQ - Is Haagen Dazs Gluten Free?". Nestlé. http://www.nestle.ca/haagen_dazs/en/Company/FAQ/index#Q13. 
21. ^ "Business Outlook: ice cream manufacturing (based on a report to be found through www.ibisworld.com.au)". Reed Business Information. 2005. http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/31/0c02a331.asp. Retrieved on 2006-03-03. 
22. ^ Tike web page on consumer habits
23. ^ Visser, Margaret (1999). Much Depends on Dinner (illustrated ed.). Grove Atlantic Press. p. 297. ISBN 9780802136510. http://books.google.com/books?id=iijF4QSwPssC&printsec=frontcover#PPA297,M1. Retrieved on 2009-05-13. 
24. ^ "Restaurant Le Procope" (in Italian). procope.com. http://www.procope.com/. Retrieved on 2009-05-13. 
25. ^ "New Year's Day in France". timanddate.com. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/france/new-year-day. Retrieved on 2009-05-13. 
26. ^ :: Fan Milk Limited :: - The Company
27. ^ "Norway - the official site in the United States". What's Cooking: (N)ice and cold. The Government of Norway et al.. 2005. http://www.norway.org/food/recipes/sorbet_and_ice_cream.htm. Retrieved on 2006-11-04. 
28. ^ "ReadWriteThink". Commercial ice cream is first sold in the U.S. in 1786. The International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Verizon Foundation. 2006. http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=510. Retrieved on 2006-11-04. 
29. ^ Edmund Forte. "Hokey Pokey and All That: The history of ice cream". http://www.edmundforte.co.uk/141633.html.  — Forte presents this and several alternative hypotheses.
30. ^ "What Japan Thinks - Japanese Opinion Polls Translated into English". Nearly two in five Japanese eat ice cream every week. 2007. http://whatjapanthinks.com/2007/02/15/nearly-two-in-five-japanese-eat-ice-cream-every-week/. Retrieved on 2007-02-27. 
31. ^ ^{a b c d} http://www.icecream.or.jp/data/hakusho05.html Japanese Ice Cream Association. Vanilla holds an unshakable top position in favorite ice cream flavors. Ice Cream White Paper 2006. Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved on 2006-10-21 (Japanese).
32. ^ Schedule 8, the (UK) Food Labelling Regulations 1996
33. ^ Weinstein, Bruce (1999). "Peach Ice Cream, Philadelphia Style". CondéNet, Inc., reprinted from William Morrow and Co.'s The Ultimate Ice Cream Book. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/PEACH-ICE-CREAM-PHILADELPHIA-STYLE-101911. Retrieved on 2008-09-24. 
34. ^ Rombauer, Irma S.; Marion R. Becker (1975). The Joy of Cooking. Indianapolis, Indiana: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 9780672523854. 
35. ^ National Dairy Council (2000). "Ice Cream". Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. http://www.wisdairy.com/OtherDairyProductInfo/IceCream/Default.aspx. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. 
36. ^ about.com
37. ^ 21 CFR Part 135
38. ^ 21 CFR § 135.110(a)(2).
39. ^ "Robin Weir's Ice Cream Cone Essay". Historicfood.com. 2004. http://www.historicfood.com/Ice%20Cream%20Cone.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-04. 
40. ^ Stradley, Linda (2004). "Ice Cream Cone, History of Ice Cream Cone". Whatscookingamerica.net. http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IceCream/IceCreamCone.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-04. 
41. ^ Eater, Picky (2004). "AsianWeek". Rice Noodles in Your Frozen Delights. Pan Asia Venture Capital Corporation. http://news.asianweek.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=6d40974755251326755404c525e16478&this_category_id=171. Retrieved on 2006-11-04. ^{[dead link]}
42. ^ "Mmmm...Cryogenically Frozen Ice Cream" (PDF). Cold Facts 22 (3): 6-7. 2006. http://www.subzeroicecream.com/press/coldfacts2006.pdf. 
43. ^ "Dippin' Dots Ice Cream". Dippin' Dots, Inc.. 2008. http://www.dippindots.com/. 
44. ^ "Blue Sky Creamery". Blue Sky Creamery, Inc.. 2008. http://www.blueskycreamery.com. 
45. ^ "Project Creamery". Project Creamery, Inc.. 2008. http://www.projectcreamery.com/. 
46. ^ "Sub Zero Ice Cream". Sub Zero Ice Cream. 2004. http://www.subzeroicecream.com/. 

External links

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Ice cream

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ice cream

Look up ice cream in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Selected Internet Resources --Ice Cream / Science Reference Section, Library of Congress
• History of Ice Cream
• Another History of Iced Beverages and Ice Cream
• Ice Cream sculptures
• Ice Cream Reviews
• The Complete Guide To Ice Cream
• Ice cream history and "who really invented the ice cream cone?"
• Cooking with Chemistry, Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
• HowStuffWorks's How Ice-Cream Works.
• Popular culture, Laurel & Hardy Sketch
• The words for Ice Cream, the famous novelty song by Johnson, Moll and King, sung by Walter Williams (with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians), which is the source of the refrain "I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice cream!". A recording of their performance is available on Jasmine Music, ASIN: B0000659OZ, the title of the compilation is We All Scream for Ice Cream.
• The Structure of Ice Cream

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