We can think of ice cream as a modern creation because it is frozen, but ice cream with ancient flavors dates back to those inventive Chinese, who began to eat their version as early as 3000 BC. C.

Originally it was snow or ice mixed with honey and maybe some berries. And once again, that adventurous explorer Marco Polo can get credit for bringing the idea of ​​China to his native Italy, where the royal court of the Medici family embraced it. These ice creams were the forerunners of our modern Italian ice, sherbet and sherbet. In 1553, Catherine de Medici married the French King Henry II and presented him with icy delight. It was a great success at court, but like so many other specialties, the ice was available only to the elite and the masses were left out.

In the mid-17th century, chefs used dairy products mixed with ice and called it “cream ice cream.” Lacking freezers, some Italian cooks had “runners” who were sent up into the mountains in search of snow, rushing back with their precious cargo before it melted. The frozen concoction was reported to be a favorite of Julius Caesar and his friends. A commoner had no chance of tasting royal delicacy until the first known ice cream parlor, Café Procope, was opened in Paris in 1660 by a Sicilian named Procope. She added eggs and cream to her recipe, and started the world’s love affair with this frozen treat. The Italians eventually created their own version and called it gelato.

The first official account of ice cream in the US appears in a letter written in 1744 by a guest of the Governor of Maryland, William Bladen. The first known advertisement for ice cream appeared in the New York newspaper on May 12, 1777, when confectioner Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was available in his store “almost every day.” Presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Madison served ice cream at state dinners.

With the invention of insulated ice houses around 1800, ice cream making developed on a large scale. A Baltimore dairy worker named Jacob Fussell introduced the residents of his city to this delicious product in 1851, and as mechanical inventions and technology increased, new ways of freezing and homogenizing milk and cream became possible.

As ice cream spread across the country, drug stores began offering the popular dessert by installing soda fountains. With the invention of the frozen soda, the well-known title “soda” became a household word. When the churches condemned the consumption as sinful, especially on Saturday, the skillful owners of the springs removed the sparkling water on Sundays to appease the clergy and instead served a simple ice cream sundae. One could assume that Sunday was probably the most popular day of the week to enjoy.

Growing up in the ’50s, who didn’t get a little change out of Mom’s bag to bike to the nearest local grocery store for ice cream, ice cream, or a drumstick cone? There was nothing stopping us as we were in love.

Not content with simple flavors, the emergence of gourmet ice cream in the 1970s took its place in the form of premium, high-fat (and high-priced) brands, introduced by Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s, and many local dairies. Dove Bars became all the rage, after a humble start at a local candy store on Chicago’s northwest side, and had been a neighborhood favorite for three decades before the Mars Candy Company purchased the recipe in 1985. All of which it showed that Americans gladly paid. higher prices for premium brands and innovative flavors.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Whether it’s ice cream, chocolate ice cream soda, soft serve, ice cream, a pint of rich premium, or the many novelty ice cream creations in your local grocery store freezer, we don’t have to scream about it anymore. It is everywhere.