The Fascinating History Of Ice Cream

The history of ice cream goes back a long way - possibly to around 200BC in China - but certainly to the point where much of its early history is no more than folklore. Many stories abound of famous people enjoying early forms of ice cream - from the Roman Emperor Nero who is said to have had snow brought down from the mountains to freeze his favorite drinks, to Marco Polo the medieval explorer (1254-1324) who returned from the Far East with a type of sorbet recipe, to King Charles I of England whose cook developed a frozen cream recipe. The first step towards giving us the kind of ice cream we enjoy today was made by Nancy Johnson (USA) who invented the hand-crank freezer (1846). Ice cream first became a real treat for 'ordinary people' from about 1850 onwards; in the UK it was the love of ice cream amongst Italian immigrants that sparked a new level of interest in the food. It also became more popular in the USA at this time. In the 1920s Clarence Vogt produced the first continuous process freezer which opened up the possibility for commercial ice cream manufacture. The 1930s saw a big rise in popularity for ice cream as it became more widely available and in different flavors - see my page featuring a 1931 skit on ice cream by none other than the great Laurel and Hardy.