GREENWICH, N.Y. — Chocolate. Vanilla. Rocky Road. Butter Pecan. We all have our favorite flavor of ice cream. This delicious dessert that is synonymous with summertime has been around for centuries. In honor of National Dairy Month and National Ice Cream month happening in July, take a look back at some of the history of one of America’s favorite foods.
The origins of ice cream are difficult to nail down. In fact, ancient civilizations all over the world had their own versions of frozen desserts. The earliest versions of a frozen dessert were likely in the form of an iced drink or an ancient version of a “snow cone.” Ancient Mesopotamians built icehouses to keep themselves and food items cool. Ancient Greeks sold snow in marketplaces of Athens in the 5th century B.C. This snow was likely used to cool their wine. The Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great reportedly enjoyed icy drinks flavored with honey or nectar. Similarly, legend also has it that the notorious Roman emperor Nero (who ruled Rome from 54-68 A.D.) would have snow and ice collected from mountains so he could enjoy flavored iced treats.
The closest ancestor of today’s ice cream was likely first made in Tang Dynasty China (618-907 A.D.) Emperors in China at this time enjoyed a frozen drink made with cow, goat, or buffalo milk, flour and camphor. Further developments occurred in Medieval Persia. Using pyramid shaped structures called yahkchal the Persians were able to refrigerate items to an extent. With this ability they made a frozen cream-like drink flavored with fruits like cherries, pomegranates, and quince called sharbat. The English word “sherbet” is derived from this Arabic word.
Ice cream developed further in Europe during the 15th-17th centuries. Two popular myths surrounding the spread of ice cream to Europe include the explorer Marco Polo bringing it back from a trip to Asia, and Catharine de Medici introducing the food to France in the 1500s when she married King Henri II. While these stories are likely untrue, ice cream as we know it today began to take shape during this time. In Italy a dessert called sorbetto was developed by a man named Antonio Latini, and in France a similar cream-based frozen dessert called fromage was experimented with. The dessert eventually reached England and there are records of a dish called “Cream Ice” that was reportedly greatly enjoyed by King Charles II in the late 1600s.
As European nations began to form colonies in the New World, they were able to acquire exotic items like sugar, cacao, and vanilla to make ice cream. The dessert eventually made it to colonial America and the first account of it dates to 1744 when it was served at a dinner put on by Maryland governor Thomas Bladen. One of the guests wrote about the treat saying “a Dessert…Among the Rarities of which is was Compos’d, was some fine Ice Cream which, with the Strawberries and Milk, eat most deliciously.”
There exists a 1770s New York newspaper ad by a London confectioner named Philip Lenzi advertising the sale of ice cream and the first ice cream parlor in the U.S. opened in 1776 showing that the product was in the United States. Several founding fathers seem to have enjoyed ice cream. Records show that George Washington bought a mechanical ice cream maker for use at Mount Vernon in 1784. Thomas Jefferson likely acquired a taste for ice cream while serving as ambassador to France. A vanilla ice cream recipe written down by Jefferson survives to this day and it was served at the White House during his presidency. Similarly, First Lady Dolly Madison is reported to have served ice cream to guests during James Madison’s time in office.
Due to its expensive and exotic ingredients, and equipment needed to make it, ice cream remained a fancy dessert enjoyed predominantly by the wealthy for a long time. However, the treat became more accessible throughout the 19th century to due culinary and technological advances. One of American ice cream’s prominent early figures was an African-American confectioner named Augustus Jackson. Little is known about Jackson’s life, but it is known that he was a chef at the White House sometime between the years 1817 and 1837. Upon leaving the White House he started his own confectionary/catering company which made ice cream in Philadelphia. Jackson is credited with the discovery of adding salt to the ice mixture which lowers and controls the temperature of ice cream, a technique still used in ice cream making today.
In 1843 a woman named Nancy Johnson received a patent for an “artificial freezer” made by combining a tub, cylinder, lid, dasher, and crank. This crank-version of freezing is still the basic method used to make ice cream today. The industry took off further in 1851 when Jacob Fussell, a Baltimore dairy farmer, opened the first ice cream factory. The factory was in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania and product was then shipped by train to Baltimore for sale making for the first instance of a commercial ice cream industry in the U.S.
The United States’ love of ice cream grew with the new creations of the ice cream soda and the ice cream sundae. The drugstore with a soda fountain appeared in the mid-19th century and the ice cream soda became a hit at these institutions after its introduction in 1874. The ice cream sundae came about in 1881. In many towns and states across the nation “blue laws” were in place at that time. Blue laws restricted business and leisure activities on certain days of the week, typically Sundays, for religious reasons. The consumption of soda, and therefore ice cream sodas, became restricted by blue laws in many places and could not be sold on Sundays. In order to bypass this, the ice cream sundae was invented so customers could still enjoy ice cream, just without the soda. The ice cream cone was also introduced at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904.
In an interesting turn in ice cream’s history, Prohibition led to an increase in ice cream consumption in the U.S. The Volstead Act passed in 1920 prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages. In response many people turned to ice cream as an alternative to getting a drink at a bar. The soda fountain grew even more in its popularity with “soda jerks” concocting drinks of all kinds, similar to what a bartender would do at a saloon. Better refrigeration methods at the time also helped grow its popularity. With ice cream’s popularity on the rise the 1920s produced recognizable single serve ice cream-related treats like the Eskimo Pie, Dixie Cups, and Popsicles. Overall ice cream consumption increased by 40% between 1920-1929.
Ice cream began to appear in grocery stores in the 1930s and by then it became associated with American culture. During World War II ice cream was used as a morale booster as the U.S. Navy converted a concrete barge into a floating ice cream factory that delivered the dessert to troops in the Pacific Theater. The retail sale of ice cream in supermarkets led to the decline of soda fountains as places to get ice cream in the decades after WWII, however ice cream parlors remain popular today.
America’s love of ice cream continues to this day with the average American consuming about four gallons of ice cream per year. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, U.S. ice cream makers produced around 1.38 billion gallons of ice cream in 2022 and generated just of $13 billion in sales. What flavors are Americans eating these days? The IDFA’s survey from last year found America’s top five favorite flavors to be: chocolate, cookies n’ cream, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate chip.
Chandler Hansen grew up and lives in Easton, NY. He is a graduate of Gordon College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in History. He serves as a writer and editor for Morning Ag Clips.
