Early frozen desserts The origins of frozen desserts are obscure, although several accounts exist about their history. Some sources say the history of ice cream begins in
Persia in 550 BC. A
Roman cookbook dating back to the 1st century includes recipes for sweet desserts that are sprinkled with snow, 's origin is referred to in
The Pillow Book, a book of observations written by
Sei Shōnagon, who served the Imperial Court during the Heian period. The earliest known written process to artificially make ice is known not from culinary texts, but the 13th-century writings of Syrian historian
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a in his book "Kitab Uyun al-anba fi tabaqat-al-atibba" (Book of Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians) concerning medicine in which Ibn Abi Usaybi'a attributes the process to an even older author, Ibn Bakhtawayhi, of whom nothing is known. Ice cream production became easier with the discovery of the
endothermic effect. Prior to this, cream could be chilled easily but not frozen. The addition of salt lowered the melting point of ice, drawing heat from the cream and allowing it to freeze.
Early modern in a
matka pot from India In the 16th century, the
Mughal Empire used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the
Hindu Kush to its capital,
Delhi, used to create
kulfi, a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent often described as traditional Indian ice cream. Although Delhi has been described as the birthplace of kulfi, Australian food historian Charmaine O'Brien suggests : "...it is likely that [kulfi] originally evolved in the cooler climates of
Persia or
Samarkand and that the Mughals appropriated the concept and elaborated on it to create the creamy, perfumed dessert that it now is."
Europe The technique of freezing was not known from any European sources prior to the 16th century. Ice cream's spread throughout Europe is sometimes attributed to Moorish traders, but more often
Marco Polo. Though it is not mentioned in any of his writings, Polo is often credited with introducing
sorbet-style desserts to Italy after learning of them during his travels to China. However, no Italian chefs were present in France during the Medici period, and ice cream already existed in France before de Medici was born. One hundred years later,
Charles I of England was reportedly so impressed by the "frozen snow" that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime
pension in return for keeping the formula secret, so that ice cream could be a
royal prerogative. There is no evidence to support these legends.
France In 1665, the , edited in
Montpellier by Jean Fargeon, listed a type of frozen sorbet. While the composition of this sorbet is not provided, Fargeon specified that it was consumed frozen using a container that was plunged into a mixture of ice and saltpetre. These sorbets were transported in pots made of clay and sold for three livres per pound. According to , the practice of cooling drinks with ice and snow had already emerged in
Paris, particularly in the court, during the 16th century. The narrator notes that his hosts stored ice and snow, which they later added to their wine. This practice slowly progressed during the reign of
Louis XIII and was likely a necessary step towards the creation of ice cream. In 1682, provided a recipe for a specific type of ice cream, called . The first recipe in
French for flavoured ices appears in 1674, in
Nicholas Lemery's . Recipes for saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latini's (The Modern Steward). Recipes for flavoured ices begin to appear in François Massialot's , starting with the 1692 edition. Massialot's recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the fine consistency of sugar and snow. The only table at the banquet with ice cream on it was that of the King. The first recipe for ice cream in English was published in ''
Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts,'' in
London in 1718: by M. Emy, in 1768, was a cookbook devoted to recipes for flavoured ices and ice cream. His shop was at the Sign of the Pineapple (an emblem used by confectioners) and his trade card said he sold "All Sorts of English, French and Italian wet and dry'd Sweet Meats, Cedrati and Bergamot Chips, Naples Diavoloni, All sorts of Baskets & Cakes, fine and Common Sugar plums", but most importantly, "all Sorts of Ice, Fruits and creams in the best Italian manner."
North America An early North American reference to ice cream is from an account in 1744 of a dinner held by governor
Thomas Bladen and his wife: "...after which came a Dessert no less Curious. Among the Rarities of which it was Compos'd, was some fine Ice Cream, which, with the Strawberries and Milk, eat most Deliciously." Confectioners sold ice cream at their shops in
New York and other cities during the colonial era.
Benjamin Franklin,
George Washington, and
Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. Records, kept by a merchant from Chatham street, New York, show George Washington spending approximately $200 on ice cream in the summer of 1790. The same records show president Thomas Jefferson having an 18-step recipe for ice cream. Although it is incorrect that Jefferson introduced ice cream to America, as is
popularly believed, he did help to introduce
vanilla ice cream.
First Lady Dolley Madison, wife of U.S. President
James Madison, served ice cream at her husband's
Inaugural Ball in 1813. Small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezers were invented in England by
Agnes Marshall and in America by
Nancy Johnson in the 1840s.
Expansion in popularity , "queen of ices", instrumental in making ice-cream fashionable surround an ice cream vendor in 1909. In the Mediterranean, ice cream appears to have been accessible to ordinary people by the mid-18th century. Ice cream became popular and inexpensive in England in the mid-19th century, when Swiss émigré
Carlo Gatti set up the first stand outside
Charing Cross station in 1851. He sold scoops in shells for one penny. Prior to this, ice cream was an expensive treat confined to those with access to an ice house. Gatti built an 'ice well' to store ice that he cut from
Regent's Canal under a contract with the
Regent's Canal Company. By 1860, he expanded the business and began importing ice on a large scale from Norway. In New Zealand, a newspaper advertisement for ice cream appeared in 1866, claiming to be the first time ice cream was available in
Wellington. Commercial manufacturing was underway in 1875. Ice cream rapidly gained in popularity in New Zealand throughout the 20th century. By 2018, exported ice cream products included new flavours such as
matcha to cater to Asian markets. Agnes Marshall, regarded as the "queen of ices" in England, did much to popularize ice cream recipes and make its consumption into a fashionable middle-class pursuit. She wrote four books:
The Book of Ices (1885), ''Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery
(1888), Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes
(1891) and Fancy Ices'' (1894) and gave public lectures on cooking. She even suggested using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream.
Ice cream soda was invented in the 1870s, adding to ice cream's popularity. The invention of this cold treat is attributed to American Robert Green in 1874, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove his claim. The
ice cream sundae originated in the late 19th century. Some sources say that the sundae was invented to circumvent
blue laws, which forbade serving sodas on Sunday. Towns claiming to be the birthplace of the sundae include
Buffalo,
Two Rivers,
Ithaca, and
Evanston. Both the
ice cream cone and
banana split became popular in the early 20th century. The first mention of the cone being used as an edible receptacle for the ice cream is in ''Mrs. A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery'' of 1888. Her recipe for "Cornet with Cream" said that "the cornets were made with almonds and baked in the oven, not pressed between irons". The ice cream cone was popularized in the US at the
1904 World's Fair in
St. Louis, Missouri. to which some people have an
intolerance. Recent awareness of this issue has prompted a number of manufacturers to start producing gluten-free ice cream. The 1980s saw thicker ice creams being sold as "premium" and "super-premium" varieties under brands such as
Ben & Jerry's,
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company and
Häagen-Dazs. == Composition ==