A Little Bit of Knowledge: Retrospecting on the History of Ice Cream and Gelato

Ice cream and gelato are desserts that dominate the hearts of people around the world, but have you ever wondered how the origin of this juicy coldness came about?

Its story doesn't start at a modern freezer, but travels through thousands of years.

🌍 The Beginning: Seasoned Snow from the Ancient Period

The history of ice cream is not recorded as a single clear starting point, but as an evolution from similar concepts in many civilizations.

🌏 Mesopotamian and Chinese Periods: Records indicate that snow was collected from the mountains and stored in cellars, and then mixed with honey, fruit, or juice, to be eaten as a summer dessert. In ancient China, it was discovered that bringing milk mixed with rice and snow (resembling shaved ice) was popular among the elite.

🌎 Greek and Roman Civilization: The Roman Emperor Nero is believed to have favored snow-eating directed from the mountains, mixed with honey and berry family fruits, using slaves to run races to transport snow in time before melting.

🧭 Key Turning Points: A Journey to Europe

Marco Polo, a famous Italian explorer, is believed to have brought back sorbet-like frozen dessert recipes from China to Venice in the 13th century. This was the beginning of the knowledge of freezing to spread throughout Italy and Europe.

During the 16th century, Catherine de 'Medici, the Italian queen of France, brought dessert chefs from Italy with him to France, making the culture of dessert in more elaborate ways fashionable in the French court.

Gelato: Italian pride

The word "Gelato" translates directly in Italian as "frozen," despite looking like regular ice cream.

But the gelato has a distinctive identity:

🍦 Fat Proportion: Gelato uses milk as its main ingredient rather than cream, making it less fat content than regular ice cream.

❄️ Less air: In the manufacturing process, the gelato is slowly spun, leaving less air inserted (low overrun). The result is a dense, silky texture and a more intense taste.

🌡 Serving Temperature: Gelato is served at a slightly warmer temperature than ice cream, making our tongue taste clearer and quicker.

The Golden Age of the Ice Cream Industry

Ice cream became widespread to the wider public when it was invented in 1843 by Nancy Johnson, an American who made ice cream easier and capable of mass production.

As freezer technology (Refrigeration) developed in the early 20th century, ice cream became an easily available and accessible dessert for everyone, changing its status from "elite luxury food" to today's "happiness reached by everyone."

Ice Cream Cone was made known worldwide at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, U.S.A., when a sold-out ice cream shop asked the waffle shop next to it to help roll waffles instead of cups, becoming an innovation that changed the world of ice cream forever.

Today, whether you choose to eat a silky gelato in a small cup, or a favorite ice cream cone in the heat, this is the product of human wisdom that has tried to turn the cold of nature into happiness on the tip of the tongue over the millennia.

🍨 Which ice cream do you like the most? Don't forget to comment.

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