History of Ice Cream

Have you ever tried asking to your mom or to your dad or to anyone that where do ice cream came from?

Ice cream probably evolved from chilled wines and other iced beverages. In the fourth century before Christ, Alexander the Great was reputed to be fond of iced beverages. From ancient records, it is learned that in 62 A.D., the Roman Emperor, Nero, sent fleets of slaves to the mountains of the Apennines to fetch snow and ice which were then flavored with nectar, fruit pulp and honey.

Water ices are said to have been eaten throughout Asia for thousands of years. In addition, iced dairy products have been cited in ancient Chinese literature as early as the 12th century. Traders and adventurers such as the 13th century bard and adventurer, Marco Polo, brought recipes for water ices to Europe from the Far East. When Catherine de Medici married Henry II and became Queen of France in 1533, she brought with her recipes for Italian sherbet. It is said that her son, Henry III, enjoyed these delicacies and consumed them daily.

In the mid-1600s, the use of a combination of ice and salt (to depress the freezing point) became common practice in the production of frozen ices. In 1660, the Cafe Procope was founded in Paris by an Italian named Coltelli. There water ices and, possibly, cream ices were manufactured and dispensed.

Frozen desserts found their way to America, and in 1700, Governor Bladen of Maryland was serving ice cream to his guests. Dolly Madison created a sensation when she served ice cream as a dessert in the White House at the second inaugural ball in 1812.

The first hand cranked freezer was invented by Nancy Johnson and patented in 1843. Between 1848 and 1873, sixty-nine other patents were issued for hand cranked ice cream freezers. The first commercial ice cream plant was established in Baltimore in 1851 by Jacob Fussell.

A year before the turn of the century, August Gaulin of Paris invented the homogenizer which is used to help develop the smooth texture of ice cream.

With the coming of mechanical refrigeration, the first horizontal batch freezer was invented by H.H. Miller of Canton, Ohio. About 1926, the first continuous freezer was commercially perfected by Clarence Vogt of Louisville, Kentucky.

Italo Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy in the late 1800s, produced the first ice cream cone in 1896 in New York City. He was granted a patent for his special mold in December 1903. In 1904, the ice cream cone was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair when a Syrian waffle concessionaire named E.A. Hamwi started rolling waffles into the shape of a cone for the benefit of an ice cream vendor who occupied an adjoining booth. It has remained a favorite to this day, with billions of cones consumed each year. Other products, such as ice cream on sticks, ice cream bars and other forms of ice cream and sherbet, known in the industry as "novelties," had their beginning in the 1920s.

The basic mix for the manufacture of ice cream is cream and other milk ingredients, plus sweeteners. The ingredients of the mix are carefully blended in proper proportions in a mixing tank. The mix may also contain small amounts of functional ingredients, such as a stabilizer, which prevents the formation of ice crystals in the ice cream after it is frozen.

The mix then goes to a pasteurizer where it is heated and held at a predetermined temperature for a specific period of time. The most common type of pasteurization is the high-temperature-short-time method in which the mix is heated to 175° F and is held for 25 seconds.

The hot mix then goes to the homogenizer where, under pressure of 2,000 to 2,500 pounds per square inch, the milkfat globules are broken into still smaller particles to help make the ice cream smooth.

After homogenization, the hot mix is quickly cooled to a temperature of about 40° F. Next, freezing of the mix is accomplished by one of two methods: a "continuous freezer" which uses a steady flow of mix; or a "batch freezer" which makes a single quantity of ice cream at a time.

While the ice cream is being frozen, blades in the freezer, or "dashers" as they are commonly called, whip and aerate the products. Without this aeration, the finished product would be an inedible, solidly frozen mass of cream, milk, sugar and flavoring. In all states, this aeration, called "overrun," is controlled by requiring that finished ice cream shall weigh not less than 4.5 pounds per gallon containing at least 1.6 pounds of total food solids.

With the use of the continuous freezer, ingredients such as fruits and nuts are added after the freezing by a mechanical flavor feeder. Liquid flavors are added to the mix prior to freezing.

The filling operation begins with filling large containers (half gallon, quart and pint packages), paper cups, or molds for ice cream on a stick.

After the freezing and filling, ice cream goes to the "hardening room" where sub-zero temperatures further harden the ice cream. From the hardening room, it is loaded into refrigerated trucks for delivery to distributors or retailers.