ICE-CREAM AND ICES 



ICE-CREAM is a term applied to a variety of frozen products, 

 but commonly means a frozen mixture of cream, milk, sugar, eggs, 

 condensed milk, and flavoring substances. Ice-cream is usually 

 eaten as a delicacy and not as a food, although it contains a large 

 amount of valuable nutritive material. The French say "creme 

 glace" or "glace a la creme," which means cream-ice, a term which 

 preceded that of ice-cream, the latter being of relatively modern 

 origin. The French recognized two kinds of frozen desserts, 

 namely, frozen water with fruits and ices with cream. Until it 

 was introduced into England ice-cream was never made from 

 cream alone; then frozen flavored and sweetened cream was pre- 

 pared for the first time. The mixture was not agitated when 

 freezing, but that part of the mixture which had congealed on the 

 sides of the vessel was removed. The modern ice-cream freezer 

 is an American invention and was introduced about seventy years 

 ago. Since that time the consumption of ice-cream has increased 

 enormously. 



Modern frozen dainties are the result of evolution, probably 

 occurring simultaneously in different parts of the world. The 

 brief recital of the development of modern ice-cream which is 

 given here is an abstract of an article by Washburn, published in 

 Bulletin No. 155 of the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Cool beverages are used chiefly during the warm season and 

 in hot climates. During biblical times the Jews, Greeks, and 

 Romans cooled wines and other beverages by adding snow, and 

 this practice still prevails in parts of Spain and Turkey. The 

 snow is obtained from snow-capped mountains, and in localities 

 where snow is not available the beverages are placed in porous 

 jars and urns, then exposed to cool breezes, or air currents are 

 created by swinging the jars. 



History relates that Alexander the Great used iced beverages, 

 and that Henry the Third of France had snow and ice served at 

 his table. The Italians introduced a solution of saltpeter in the 

 snow and ice, and later dropped that salt directly into the snow 

 and ice in which the vessel containing the beverage was revolved. 

 The saltpeter materially reduced the temperature of the freezing 

 mixture so that the beverage became partly solid. 



Water-ices were first used in Italy, and were introduced into 

 France about 1550 by Catherine de Medici. Whether the use of 



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