Who really invented Ice Cream???

[radio_guy]

My girlfriend and I got into a serious discussion about the origins of Ice Cream the other night. She swears it was invented in America but I am sure that somebody else thought it up, like maybe the Italians and I thought somewhere I had heard the Chinese ate Ice Cream. Anyway, if anyone could help us solve the argument I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

Radio_guy

[dtilque]

The Chinese invented so many things that it’s common to attribute things to them that they didn’t invent. But if you consider that Chinese cuisine does not include dairy, you will realize that they are not likely to be the inventors.

[chukhung]

Britain’s Ice Cream Alliance site has some information about the history of ice cream here, http://www.ice-cream.org/educ.htm. I don’t know how reliable it is. The author is give as “Robin Weir Co-author of Ices - The Definitive Guide”.

The earliest evidence of anything approaching ice cream being made was in China in the Tang period (A.D. 618-907). Buffalo, cows and goats milk was heated and allowed to ferment. This ‘yoghurt’ was then mixed with flour for thickening, camphor (yes camphor!) for flavour and ‘refrigerated’ before being served. King Tang of Shang had a staff of 2,271 people which included 94 ice-men.
…
But the process [of freezing of foods by mixing salt with ice] did not arrive in Europe until 1503, in Italy where it was considered a chemists party trick, using various acids, water and salts. However, it was not used for food until water ices (sorbets) appeared in the 1660s in Naples, Florence, Paris and Spain. Later in 1664 ices made with sweetened milk first appeared in Naples.
…
The technique of making a custard based ice cream using egg yolks started in France around the middle of the 18th century and this is the origin of custard based ice cream. The Americans had to wait until 1800 to get their first taste of ice cream.

That makes it sound like the Americans were johnny-come-latelies…

[lord_vykor]

There does seem to be some truth to the Chinese origin theory…they apparently experimented with some form of proto-ice cream. Sources disagree about the time frame, however. Some report it as being invented 2000 years ago, while others say it was the 700s A.D.

According to these sites:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761561735
http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/wonderquest/2002-05-24-ice-cream.htm
http://www.ice-cream.org/educ.htm

I’ve also read that the Roman Emperor Nero supposedly sent people to retrieve snow from mountain tops and then flavored them with honey and fruits. No cite for that one, though.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Cite for Nero, from The Great American Ice Cream Book by Paul Dickson. no footnotes given

The first known use of a substance even vaguely resembling ice cream occurred during the rule of Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-68). Nero periodically sent teams of runners into the mountains for snow, which was relayed back to his table where it was flavored with honey, juices, and fruit pulps. Although this is all that is know, the emperor’s dessert was obviously the forerunner of the modern fruit ice. Roman writings of the second century after Christ mention, but never describe, a dish called mecla – and it has perplexed scholars ever since the Renaissance. Several have advanced the thesis that it was a frozen or chilled milk concoction.

[Kent_Clark]

It was the CONE that was invented in the U.S.

http://drinc.ucdavis.edu/html/icream/icream-5.shtml

[chukhung]

*Originally posted by kunilou *
It was the CONE that was invented in the U.S.

Robin Weir in my previous link says

Most people think of the cone or cornet as the traditional way of eating ice cream and until recently it was claimed in the United States to be an American invention dating from the 1904 St Louis World Fair. Our recent research has shown that the ice cream cone was an English invention. Although the cone itself can be traced back hundreds of years, the first recording of cones being used for serving ice cream was in 1888 in Mrs Marshall’s Cookery Book.

Frankly, I find the information in kunilou’s link to be more believable, but I guess it’s possible that the English were using cones for ice cream prior to the 1904 World’s Fair.