The history of ice cream. Who invented ice cream?

Ice cream is a sweetened frozen product, which is usually eaten as a snack or dessert. The question of who invented ice cream is not easy. The technology of its production has undergone a significant evolution. Nowadays it is usually produced from dairy products - cream or milk - in combination with fruits or other dessert ingredients. As a rule, modern ice cream is sweetened with sucrose, corn syrup, sugar cane, beet sugar or other similar sweet substances. Today, various flavors and dyes are used as an addition to stabilizers.

The mixture is stirred to add air spaces to it and cooled below the freezing point of water to prevent the formation of ice crystals. This is a classic definition, but has it always been so?

What it is?

Understanding the term "ice cream" can be different in different countries. Such phrases as "frozen yogurt", "gelato", "sorbet", "frozen custard" and others are used to designate different varieties and tastes. In some countries, the definition of "ice cream" refers only to a certain type of food, as well as the number of basic ingredients. Dishes that do not meet the established criteria are called "frozen dessert", etc.

Today, in almost all countries, you can find a treat made from alternatives to cow's milk. So, make it from sheep or goat's milk, or add its vegetable substitutes (for example, soy or tofu).

Ice cream can be served in the crockery for eating with a spoon or in glasses and lycra for licks. It can be served with other desserts, such as apple pie. It is also used for making other dishes, including milkshakes.

The history of the appearance of delicacies

Who invented ice cream for the first time? Even in the 5th century BC, the ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruits. This delicacy was sold in the markets of Athens. All known Hippocrates recommended that their patients have ice, considering it a means to revitalize vitality.

In the 4th century BC, the favorite delicacy of Alexander the Great was snow mixed with honey and nectar.

A frozen mixture of milk and rice was used about 200 BC. E. in China. The Chinese poured a mixture of snow and saltpeter over the vessels filled with syrup. This technology reduces the freezing point below zero. Therefore it is difficult to say in which century came up with ice cream.

In other countries, too, there were similar dishes. In 400 BC. E. The Persians also invented a special chilled food made from rose water and noodles, which was served on ice during the summer. Ice at the same time mixed with saffron, fruit, and also added various other flavors.

The Roman emperor Nero (37-68 AD) personally delivered ice from the mountains and mixed it with fruit fillings to create a chilled delicacy. Of course, it can not be said that he first invented ice cream, but such a recipe is the closest prototype of the modern sorbet.

Middle Ages

In the sixteenth century, Mongolian emperors used fast riders to deliver ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi to use it in fruit desserts. Thus, to answer the question, in which country came up with ice cream, is quite difficult. But this delicacy quickly was appreciated and continued to develop.

The Italian duchess Catherine de Medici is credited with the introduction of ice cream to Europe in the 16th century. According to the historical legend, when the Medici married the Duke of Orleans in 1533, she brought with her to France several Italian chefs who used recipes for flavored ice or sorbet. The question of where to come up with ice cream for this recipe, has not been disclosed. But the dessert was met very well.

After a century, Charles I (King of England) was so impressed with ice dessert that he offered the cook a lifelong pension as a service for keeping the ice cream recipe secret, so that this dessert remained only a royal prerogative. However, there is no historical evidence supporting these legends, which first appeared in the 19th century.

Who invented ice cream for mass recipes?

The first recipe for flavored ice in French appeared in 1674 in a large collection. Councils for the preparation of sorbets were also published in 1694 in several English sources, and then repeatedly reprinted. Initially, according to these recommendations, it was possible to make only a dish with a rough taste, with large pieces of ice. Subsequently, the cooks began to argue that the present ice cream should have a thin consistency of sugar and finely crumbled ice.

Expansion by popularity

In the Mediterranean countries, ice cream became available to the general population by the second half of the eighteenth century. Delicacy became inexpensive and widespread by the middle of the nineteenth century in England, when in 1851 an expat from Switzerland Carlo Gatti opened the first store in Charing Cross, equipped with a designer invented by a cooling showcase. This technology has become a success, and soon portable glaciers began to appear everywhere.

Talking about who invented ice cream, we should not forget about such a figure as Agnes Marshall, who is considered the "queen of desserts" in England. She actively popularized the recipes for delicacies and made his consumption fashionable among middle-class people. She wrote four books about ice cream, and she regularly read public lectures on cooking. Marshall even suggested using liquid nitrogen to prepare a heavily chilled dessert.

New types

Monotonous ice cream consistency was invented in the 1870s and immediately became popular. It is believed that invented in 1874 by his American culinary Robert Greene, but in fact there is no solid evidence of this. To say when and where it was invented ice cream plombir, too, can not be unequivocal. It is believed that for the first time it appeared in the late 19th century in an English-speaking country. Approximately in the same period several culinary specialists stated that for the first time in the world they created fruit and berry ice cream, but not one original recipe was preserved. As the legend says, fruit variants began to be invented for use as a lean product.

Growth of popularity

Despite the fact that no one could answer the question, in what century invented ice cream (plombier, sorbet, gelato), the unequivocal popularity in the world of delicacy arose in the second half of the 20th century, after cheap refrigeration technology became a common phenomenon. It was in those years that there was a real "boom" in the production of ice cream of a wide variety of tastes and types. Vendors often competed on the basis of diversity. At the same time there were trade objects specializing in this delicacy. The most famous brand to date is Baskin Robbins, which entered the market with 31 fragrances, and does not change its traditions. The main slogan of the company is one taste for every day of the month. Currently, the company boasts that it has created more than 1000 varieties.

Soft ice cream

An important event was the invention in the 20th century of soft ice cream, which has more air in its composition. In addition, its production technology is such that the costs are reduced very significantly. Further development of the production of soft ice cream has led to the emergence of special machines that squeeze the mass into the waffle horn. Today such delicacy is offered both in independent trading objects, and in networks of fast food.