The True History of Ice Cream: A Global Tapestry of Ancient Roots and Surprising Evolution "Explore the true history of ice cream, from ancient Persian frozen desserts and Roman luxuries to the American innovations that made it a global staple."

From Persian Yakhchals to American Factories: The Unbelievable 5,000-Year Journey of Ice Cream

#HistoryOfIceCream #FoodHistory #CulinaryHistory #AncientHistory #AmericanInnovation #FactRage #FactRageNews

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Couldn't leave #Fontainhas in Brooklyn without trying their refreshing 'Nimbu Sherbet', with lime, sugar, & black salt.

We associate the word with a frozen treat today, but fans of my #HistoryOfIceCream will recall sherbet/sharbat as a sweet iced drink with ancient Persian roots

Erik Hodgetts has been making ice cream at home for over 10 years. Some examples from over 100 batches: Fresh mint with dark chocolate stracciatella, strawberry, maple walnut, coffee, French vanilla, Italian 'panforte' with candied citrus and almonds, blueberry cheese knish ice cream sandwich.

This wraps up our journey through the #HistoryOfIceCream - from ancient times to today! If you'd like to dig further into this tasty topic, join me at my upcoming @NYAdventureClub webinar:

Wed. March 5
5:30 - 7PM
$12 (+Eventbrite fee)
Find out more & register at: bit.ly/MarIceCream25

Traditional sorbetiére and spaddle via food historian Ivan Day. Modern home ice cream maker - Breville 1 quart Smart Scoop

For those would would like to try making ice cream at home, the days of stirring it by hand with a ‘spaddle’ or laborious cranking for hours are long gone. A number of manufacturers offer convenient machines that will churn and freeze a batch in about an hour. #HistoryOfIceCream

Images from New Territories Ice Cream, Fair Lawn, NJ / Taiyaki NYC, Chinatown, NY, NY / Eiswelt Gelato, Westmonster, CA. Slide art by Marina Hodgetts.

Today’s commercial ice cream offerings continue to evolve & expand in interesting ways, including the use of alternative plant & animal milks, plus new technology like liquid nitrogen. And of course, social media is a strong influence on visual styling & trends #HistoryOfIceCream

assembling a custom combination of ice cream flavors and mix ends on a chilled granite slab at Cold Stone Creamery

Founded in 1988 by Donald & Susan Sutherland in Tempe, AZ, Cold Stone Creamery differentiated itself by offering unique, individually-customized treats for each guest, with any combination of flavors and mix-ins assembled to your order on a chilled granite slab #HistoryOfIceCream

Phoro of Jerry Greenfield and Ben Cohen in Bennington, Vt.,July 3, 1980.Ted Dully—Boston Globe/Getty Images

Starting out in a converted Vermont gas station in the 1970s, Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield embraced an all-natural country store vibe for their own upscale products, and adopted chunky mix-ins & progressive activism as defining traits of the Ben & Jerry's brand #HistoryOfIceCream

Häagen-Dazs magazine advertisement / photo of Reuben and Rose Mattus

Sensing a market for better ice cream, Polish immigrants Reuben & Rose Mattus increased milkfat by 20% & reduced the extra air mainstream companies pumped into their products. To give their luxury brand a faux-European vibe, they invented the name Häagen-Dazs #HistoryOfIceCream

Image by Michael Strauch 2009 via www.streetcarmike.com

Soon, a new interstate highway system allowed a staggering variety of ice cream to come by refrigerated truck to the freezers of local supermarkets. But intense competition between many brands forced them to cut quality right down to - or below - FDA minimums. #HistoryOfIceCream

In the prosperity that followed WWII, ice cream quickly rose among the amenities Amercans chose to spend their disposable income on, and the ubiquitous music that announced the Good Humor man's truck became a beloved symbol of idyllic suburban childhoods. #HistoryOfIceCream

1930s - General Electric “Monitor Top” electric refrigerator with freezer compartment (Smithsonian) and magazine advertisement.

From the start of the 20th century, commercial refrigeration helped companies store and distribute their products. In the 1930s, electric refrigerators began to replace the insulated ice boxes in US homes, and ice cream could be kept in the freezer section. #HistoryOfIceCream

Street seller making kulfi in Gujarat by Foodie Life (YT)

Many frozen treats don’t meet FDA requirements to be called ice cream in the US. This can include gelato, soft serve, frozen yogurt & global favorites like Indian kulfi & Middle Eastern versions. But this doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious in their own right! #HistoryOfIceCream

Image of Graeter’s Ice Cream plant in Cincinnati, Ohio via Dairy Foods

The FDA created a legal definition for ice cream, mandating the use of wholesome ingredients & setting standards for minimum milkfat content & weight by volume. These plus the requirement that it be churned while freezing assured consumers got a quality product #HistoryOfIceCream

In response to food-borne diseases and other health threats, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley of the government’s “Poison Squad” agitated for the creation of a regulatory body to protect the public. The 1906 Pure Food And Drug Act would launch the FDA for this purpose. #HistoryOfIceCream

Cartoon depicting a customer of cheap street vendor ices suffering ill after-effects.

Unsanitary conditions & unwholesome foods were common by the 1890s in urban areas, where raw ‘swill milk’ from city dairies became a vector for tuberculosis. Immigrant neighborhood vendors hawked low-quality “hokey pokey” ice cream made from dubious ingredients #HistoryOfIceCream

photo of Ernest Hamwi / commemorative stamp for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair

The now-familiar edible ice cream cone also appeared at the turn of the 20th Century. Despite earlier examples - all tied to women & immigrants - the sale of cones by Syrian-born Ernest Hamwi at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair became the best-known origin story #HistoryOfIceCream

Shutterstock image of ice cream sundae with nuts and cherry on top via Mashable

Both Ithaca, NY and Two Rivers ,WI claim to be the birthplace of the indulgent dish that came to be known as the ice cream sundae, with competing Gilded Age stories involving some combination of factors such as clergymen, Sabbath blue laws, and spelling changes #HistoryOfIceCream

Nashville Union advertisement for Soda Fountain, 1869 / Robert M. Green, Franklin institute / early ice cream soda with carbonated water dispenser bottle

Soda fountains followed the artificial carbonation of water in imitation of natural mineral springs. Inevitably, ice cream & soda were joined - it's said the first ice cream soda was made in Philadelphia by the Franklin Institute's Robert M. Green in 1874. #HistoryOfIceCream

Other ice cream brands soon emerged, with Hydrox in Chicago, Breyer’s in Philadelphia, & HP Hood in New England all throwing their hat into the ring by the 1880s. Their products soon appeared among the offerings at a new American institution - the soda fountain #HistoryOfIceCream

Image via Library of Congress Title: Fussell-Young Ice Cream Co., trucks Created / Published: [between 1921 and 1922] Headings: Glass negatives. Notes - Title from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negative or negative sleeve. - Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947. Call Number/Physical Location LC-F82- 8191 [P&P] Source Collection National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress) Repository Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Digital Id npcc 30453 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.30453 Library of Congress Control Number 2016824121 Reproduction Number LC-DIG-npcc-30453 (digital file from original) Rights Advisory No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see National Photo Company Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/275_npco.html Online Format image LCCN Permalink https://lccn.loc.gov/2016824121

Spurred by developments in technology & power, ice cream was ready to start reaching a broader audience. In 1851, Baltimore milk dealer Jacob Fussell took the plunge & became the first regional vendor of the frozen treat, with factories throughout the northeast.
#HistoryOfIceCream

In 1843, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia patented an Automatic Freezer for making ice cream. Her new design replaced traditional hand-stirring with a rotating ‘dasher’ operated by an external crank. This greatly reduced the time & effort needed to make a batch #HistoryOfIceCream

Philadelphia became a hub of innovation & from 1818 Eleanor Parkinson offered a lighter style known for quality cream & flavorings, but without eggs. This differentiated American ice cream from its European forebears, now known as French Style or Frozen Custard #HistoryOfIceCream

Portrait of Dolley Madison by Bass Otis - advertisement for Dolly Madison ice cream

Strawberry ice cream continued to be a well-loved flavor in early America, and Dolley Madison - the namesake of a popular brand a century later - is known to have served it at the White House, based on the recipe of freed slave Aunt Sally Shadd of Baltimore.
#HistoryOfIceCream

In this fun and informative webinar, we’ll define just what ice cream is (and is not!), look at its history from ancient times through modern developments, and discover the ingredients and processes that go into making this popular frozen treat. Along the way, we’ll learn how a luxury frozen dessert that was once only for the wealthy became available to everyone as technology and innovation made it cheaper and easier to produce and distribute. and find out how women, African-Americans, and immigrants were key to transforming it into the most popular dessert in the USA - today over 1.6 billion gallons are consumed every year. Once we’ve reviewed this history, we’ll check in on present and future trends, and look at the resources needed if you choose to try your luck at making some yourself. KEY POINTS The evolution of ice cream since ancient history as a unique product distinct from other frozen desserts in ingredients and process. A Sicilian cafe that first brought ice cream to the elite of Paris and Europe, and became a meeting place for high society.. How the industrial revolution in America transformed ice cream manufacturing and popularized it for a wider audience. The little-known contributions of women and Black Americans like Aunt Sallie Shadd, Augustus Jackson, and Nancy Johnson. An explosion of production and distribution in the 20th century that made ice cream a universal favorite accessible to everyone. Luxury brands like Häagen Dazs and Ben & Jerrys that elevated ice cream after World War II and led to the exotic and varied trends of today.

If you are enjoying these snippets of #IceCream history, why not join me and get the full story at my upcoming #HistoryOfIceCream webinar via @NYAdventureClub?

Wednesday, March 5th, 2025
5:30 - 7:00 PM
$12 (+Eventbrite fee)

Find out more & register at: bit.ly/MarIceCream25

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Charles Wilson Peale - Jefferson's handwritten recipe for strawberry ice cream

Thomas Jefferson had a gourmand's love of all things French, and tasked his enslaved chef James Hemings to keep up with European culinary trends while he served as the US representative in Paris. A recipe for strawberry ice cream is recorded in TJ's own hand. #HistoryOfIceCream

Labor-intensive to make from expensive ingredients, ice cream in early America remained a treat for elites. George Washington famously rang up a bill for over $6K in today's dollars from NYC vendors in 1790 & bought equipment & serving ware to use at Mt. Vernon #HistoryOfIceCream

Travelers from the British colonies that would become the USA encountered ice cream at fashionable spots in Europe and wanted to enjoy it at home, including the popular molded ices shown here being recreated by Robert Brantley at Colonial Williamsburg. #HistoryOfIceCream

Ice cream soon spread across the Continent, with Italian Domenico Negri bringing it to his Pot & Pineapple café in London's tony Mayfair district - later famous as Gunter's Tea Shop, familiar to fans of #Regency drama like Netflix's popular #Bridgerton series. #HistoryOfIceCream

Sicilian-born Francesco Cutò opened Café Procope in Paris, offering ice cream, coffee, and other delicacies to the French in a refined atmosphere that attract luminaries from Voltaire to Ben Franklin over the following decades, and is still in business today. #HistoryOfIceCream

In his 1692 book The Modern Steward, Antonio Latini's recipe for what later became known as gelato alla crema included white sugar, eggs & cream along with flavorings like candied citron. Its texture was made creamier & less icy by stirring the mix as it froze #HistoryOfIceCream