A Sundae Ice Cream Party ? Summer surely has arrived on Regent St !Since the first ice cream factory was created a few decades ago in Baltimore USA, ice cream has been the delight of Victorian Society ever since
That is until a certain Reverend John Scott in New York City decided to serve a strange dessert to his Crowd after the Sunday service : he simply called it Ice Cream Sundae.
Needless to say that it only took a first class crossing on the latest Cunard Steamer to bring the novelty to London and this afternoon on Regent St, the Upper Crust of Victorian Society all dressed in the latest fashion with matching jewelled feathered fans are all gathering under the pale green silk swag curtains of the Summer Room to indulge in the most scrumptious selection of ice creams ever seen.
Such an event will surely be featured in the next issue of the Delineator in London, Cosmopolitan in New York and La Gazette du Bon Ton in Paris.
Another success for the Lady of the House !!!
History of Ice Cream
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 served in the fashionable Italian and French royal courts.
Marco Polo
In 1295, Marco Polo, a great adventurer, returned from China to Italy with a new recipe for making snow ice cream. His recipe called for mixing yak milk into snow in order to make it creamy. The idea of mixing a mammal's milk into snow ice cream caught on and soon the rich people of Italy were enjoying frozen milk.
Catherine de Medici
In 1533, Catherine de Medici of Florence, Italy became the Queen of France when she married the French king, Henry II. One of the things she took with her when she moved from her home in Italy to her castle in France was her recipe for making frozen milk. Soon many of the cooks in France were making the delicious treat. One French chef opened a shop to sell the tasty treat. He was the first cook to add flavors like chocolate and strawberry to the frozen milk.
Charles I of England
When Charles I of England visited France in the 1600s, he was served frozen milk. He loved it so much, he asked the French chef who served it to him to sell him the recipe. Charles I took the recipe back to England with him and the rich people of England began to eat the delicious cold dessert.
In 1700, Governor Bladen of Maryland, who was from England, served ice cream to his guests. Seventy-six years later, the first ice cream parlor in America opened in New York City. American colonists were the first to use the term "ice cream". The name came from the phrase "iced cream" that was similar to "iced tea". The name was later abbreviated to "ice cream" the name we know today.
Dolly Madison
After the dessert was imported to the United States, it was served by several famous Americans. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson served it to their guests. In 1700, Governor Bladen of Maryland was recorded as having served it to his guests. In 1774, a London caterer named Philip Lenzi announced in a New York newspaper that he would be offering for sale various confections, including ice cream. Dolly Madison, the president's wife loved ice cream so much, she served it to her White House guests in 1812.
Augustus JacksonAfrican American, Augustus Jackson was a candy confectioner from Philadelphia who created several ice cream recipes and invented an improved method of manufacturing ice cream around 1832.
Augustus Jackson left his position as a White House chef to move to Philadelphia in the late 1820s, where he started his own successful catering business. Jackson created several popular ice cream flavors which he distributed packaged in tin cans to the ice cream parlors of Philadelphia. At that time, many African Americans owned ice cream parlors or were ice cream makers in the Philadelphia area. Augustus Jackson was the most successful and his ice cream flavors were well loved.
Augustus Jackson did not apply for any patents
Victorian Times
In Victorian times, ice cream was very different to the vanilla, strawberry or chocolate varieties we enjoy today.
The most fashionable way to serve it at well-to-do dinner parties was moulded into the shape of vegetables or fruit. Two favourites were cucumber and asparagus.
Mrs Agnes Bertha Marshall, the celebrity cook of her day, wrote The Book of Ices in 1885, and called them "some of the prettiest dishes it is possible to send to the table".
Ice cream was made with a base made of water, cream or custard, then flavoured with sugar and fruit pulp. Concentrated essence and food colourings were also added.
Victorian Ice Cream Maker
It was frozen using an ice cream machine, a cylindrical tin container surrounded with a mixture of ice and salt inside a wooden outer container. The mixture had to be continually stirred using the machine's handle so it started to freeze evenly before being moulded.
Jacob Fussell - First Ice Cream Factory in Baltimore ( 1851 )
In Europe and early America, ice cream was made and sold by small businesses, mostly confectioners and caterers. Jacob Fussell of Baltimore, Maryland was the first to manufacture ice cream on a large scale. Fussell bought fresh dairy products from farmers in York County, Pennsylvania, and sold them in Baltimore. An unstable demand for his dairy products often left him with a surplus of cream, which he made into ice cream. He built his first ice-cream factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, in 1851. Two years later, he moved his factory to Baltimore. Later, he opened factories in several other cities and taught the business to others, who operated their own plants. Mass production reduced the cost of ice cream and added to its popularity.
It all started with the Soda Fountain or the puzzling origins of the Sundae Ice Cream...
Origins of the Ice Cream Sundae - Version One - Evanston, IllinoisIn the midwestern parts of United States, laws were once passed that prohibited the selling of soda water on a Sunday. The town of Evanston, Illinois was one of the first towns to pass such a law around the year 1890. As an alternative on Sundays, local soda fountains started selling ice cream sodas minus the soda, which left only the ice cream and syrup. That became the recipe of what was to become know as the ice cream sundae
Origins of the Ice Cream Sundae - Version Two - Two Rivers, WisconsinSoda fountain owner, Ed Berners of Two Rivers, Wisconsin is reputed to have invented the first ice cream sundae in 1881. Berners' customer George Hallauer requested that Berners serve him a dish of ice cream topped with the syrup used for sodas. Berner liked the dish and added it to his regular menu, charging a nickel.
George Giffy, a competing soda fountain owner from nearby Manitowoc, Wisconsin felt he had to serve the same syrupy concoction as Ed Berners. However, Giffy felt that the nickel price was too cheap and decided to only serve the dish on Sundays, which soon became the name of the dish - the Ice Cream Sunday. Once Giffy realized that he was making good money from the "Ice Cream Sunday" he changed the name to the "Ice Cream Sundae" and served it daily.
Origins of the Ice Cream Sundae - Version Three - Ithaca, New YorkThe ice cream sundae was invented by Chester Platt who owned the Platt & Colt's drugstore in 1893. Platt prepared a dish of vanilla ice cream for the Reverend John Scott on a Sunday. Chester Platt spiced up the ice cream with cherry syrup and a candied cherry. Reverend Scott named the dish after the day. An advertisement for "Cherry Sunday" served at the Platt & Colt's drugstore has helped document this claim.
St Louis World's Fair 1904 or the introduction of the Ice Cream ConeThe walk-away edible ice cream cone made its American debut at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair. Ice cream in a cone was served up by several vendors at the Fair. Nobody know for certain who made the first ice cream cone. Paper and metal cones had been used in Europe for some time to hold ice cream and it was known that edible cones were being served in England prior to the 1904 World's Fair.
Italo Marchiony, Charles Menches
Italo Marchiony submitted a patent in 1903 for a mold to make an edible cups with handles. On July 23, 1904, Charles Menches of St. Louis, Missouri started filling pastry cones with two scoops of ice cream.
Most historians believe that there were over fifty ice cream cone stands at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and it is possible that several people invented the ice cream cone at the same time. However, the cone definitely become popular in America by way of the St. Louis World's Fair.
So as we are entering the Summer season soon, the next time each of us will tuck into a delicious ice cream, let's remember the incredible epic adventure of Ice Cream through the ages !
