Chocolate Ice Cream Was Invented Before Vanilla (1692 Vs 1780’s)

Dish or cone? That’s all we need to know. National Ice Cream Day on the 3rd Sunday in July offers up every flavor on the menu to honor the day! The holiday also lands in the middle of National Ice Cream Month.

• The origins of ice cream can be traced back to at least the 4th century B.C. Early references include the Roman emperor Nero (A.D. 37-68) who ordered ice to be brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings, and King Tang (A.D. 618-97) of Shang, China who had a method of creating ice and milk concoctions.
• Ice cream was likely brought from China back to Europe. Over time, recipes for ices, sherbets, and milk ices evolved and were served in the fashionable Italian and French royal courts.
• Thousands of years ago, people in the Persian Empire put snow in a bowl, poured concentrated grape juice over it, and ate it as a treat. Even when the weather was hot, they would savor this sweet treat. Their trick? They placed snow in underground chambers known as yakhchal where the temperatures kept the snow from melting. The Persians also hiked to the mountain tops by their summer capital to gather snowfall.
• The Chinese, under the Tang Dynasty around 697 AD, took to freezing dairy with salt and ice. However, the results aren’t exactly the ice cream we enjoy today. Frozen treats and beverages later, culinary folks point to Naples, Italy as the birthplace of the first ice cream. They give credit to Antonio Latini. He was born in 1642 and created a milk-based sorbet.
• In the United States, the Quaker colonists earn the nod for bringing their ice recipes over with them. They opened the first ice cream shops, including shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era.
• Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson enjoyed ice cream.
• 1813 -First Lady Dolley Madison served ice cream at the Inaugural Ball.
• 1832 – African American confectioner, Augustus Jackson, created multiple ice cream recipes as well as a superior technique to manufacture ice cream.
• 1843 – Philadelphian, Nancy Johnson, received the first U.S. patent for a small-scale hand-cranked ice cream freezer.
• 1920 – Harry Burt puts the first ice cream trucks on the streets.
• An astonishing fact regarding Thomas Jefferson – his recipe for Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream is believed to be the oldest recipe for ice cream in the USA. The recipe is provided by the Library of Congress.
• Ice cream became available to the general population in France in 1660.
• Ice cream was introduced to America in the 1700’s but was mostly enjoyed by those of status and wealth.
• Americans celebrated the victory of WWII with ice cream. In 1946, they ate more than 20 quarts of ice cream per person.
• It takes 12 lbs. of milk to make just one gallon of ice cream.
• An average dairy cow can produce enough milk in her lifetime to make a little over 9,000 gallons of ice cream.
• The first commercial ice cream plant was established in Baltimore in 1851 by Jacob Fussell.
• The U.S. enjoys an average of 48 pints of ice cream per person, per year, more than any other country.
• Italo Marchiony sold his homemade ice cream from a pushcart on Wall Street. He reduced his overhead caused by customers breaking or wandering off with his serving glasses by baking edible waffle cups with sloping sides and a flat bottom. He patented his idea in 1903.
• It takes an average of 50 licks to polish off a single-scoop ice cream cone.
• The most popular flavor is vanilla, then chocolate
• Chocolate ice cream was invented before vanilla
• Vanilla was rare and exotic in the late 1700’s
• Ice cream in America in the 1700’s was rare and enjoyed by the elite
• The first written ice cream recipe was found in a 1665 recipe book
• The majority of Americans – around 90% have ice cream in their freezers
• Some of the strangest flavors found are: avocado, garlic, chili, licorice, Stilton cheese, and bacon
• Ice cream headaches or “brain freeze” is the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain of the loss of heat
• Chocolate syrup is the most popular ice cream topping
• The United States produces the most ice cream in the world.
• The first ice cream truck vendor in the United States was Harry Burt, who started his business in 1920.
• A chocolate emporium in Maine serves a butter-flavored ice cream with chunks of lobster meat in it.
• The popular phrase, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” comes from a song written by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll and Robert King in 1927.
• As of 2016, Norwegians eat the most ice cream per capita, with each person eating an average of 9.8 liters of ice cream a year
• Rocky Road was originally marketed during the Great Depression as a metaphor for coping with the economic crash.

Sources

National Day Calendar

Mobile-Cuisine

My Mochi

Ice Cream History

Fact Retriever