The origins of ice cream are not entirely clear and historical finds include many traces of periods and ethical groups that are also quite different from each other.
In China
In China, around 200 BC, a frozen mixture of milk and rice was prepared.
Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat states, in his text "History of Food", that "the Chinese can be considered the inventors of the system to produce sorbets and ice cream. They poured a mixture of snow, saltpeter and syrup into the containers because, like the salt raises the boiling point of water, also lowers the freezing point below zero ".
In the period of the emperor Yingzong belonging to the Song dynasty (960-1279), Yang Wanli wrote a poem entitled "Ode to frozen cheese" or "Ode to pasta", referring to the pastry field. During the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan had the ice cream recipe but kept the real secret until Marco Polo visited China and (probably) introduced the technique for making ice cream in Italy.
In the Middle East
The Arabs used milk as the main ingredient in the production of ice cream, sweetening it with fruit juices.
Ice cream in the Middle East was also flavored with rose water, dried fruit and dried fruit.
In the Persian empire, grape juice was poured into a bowl along with the snow and was eaten as a dessert. This was done especially when the weather was warm, with the snow kept in the underground chambers called "yakhchal" or collected by the snowfields of the mountains.
In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special frozen food made of rose water and a kind of long pasta (similar to spaghetti), which was served to the king during the summer period. The ice was also mixed with saffron, fruit and various other ingredients.
In India
In the 16th century, the Mughal emperors used the armor of knights to transport ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi, where they used to produce fruit sorbets.
In Europe
The Roman emperor Nero (37-68 AD) had the mountains brought to the ice capital and mixed with fresh fruit.
It is said that when the Italian Duchess Caterina de 'Medici married the Duke of Orléans (Henry II of France) in 1533, she brought with her some chefs who had various recipes for flavored ice creams and sorbets. One hundred years later, Charles I of England was struck by the so-called "frozen snow", so much so that he offered his ice cream maker a lifetime pension in exchange for the secret of the formula, so that the ice cream could be a prerogative of the royal court. It is important to specify that there is no historical evidence to support these two legends.
The first French recipe for flavored ice creams appeared in 1674, in the "Recueil de curiositéz rares et nouvelles de plus admirables effets de la nature", by Nicholas Lemery.
The first recipes for sorbets saw the publication in the 1694 edition in "Lo Scalco alla Moderna" by Antonio Latini (Italy).
The formulas for flavored ice creams began to appear also in the "New Instruction for Confitures, Les Liqueurs, et les Fruits", by Francois Massialot, starting from the 1692 edition.
English ice cream recipes made their first appearance in the 18th century. They were published in "Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipt ”in London in 1718.
In North America
The first reference to ice cream can be found in the "Oxford English Dictionary" and dates back to 1744, later reprinted in a revision of 1877.
The 1751 edition of "The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy" by Hannah Glasse also includes a recipe for ice cream. The year 1768 saw the publication of "The Art of Bien Faire les Glaces of Office" by M. Emy, a cookbook entirely dedicated to the recipes for ice lollies and ice creams.
Ice cream was introduced in the United States by the Quaker colonists who brought recipes from the Old World with them. During the colonial period, confectioners sold ice cream in their stores in New York and other cities. Ben Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are known to have eaten and served ice cream. The "First Lady" Dolley Madison served ice cream at the inaugural ballet for her husband in 1813.
The first small ice cream machines were invented by Agnes Marshall in England and by Nancy Johnson in America, in 1840.
