From Ancient Flavors to Modern Delights

Ice cream was one of the most popular delights worldwide, with almost $100 billion in sales in 2023. But while today we can enjoy a ice cream virtually everywhere, the ice cream pioneers and investors had a much hard time creating this delightful treat, back when it started thousands of year ago.

The earliest forms of ice cream trace back to ancient civilizations. Around 500 BC, the Persians were known to pour grape juice concentrate over snow, stored in large chilled underground chambers known as yakhchals, which acted somewhat like ancient freezers. Similarly, there are records of Chinese emperors enjoying a frozen mixture of milk and rice around 200 BC. The Chinese are also credited with developing a method to create an ice and salt mixture, which lowers the freezing point of ice, thereby creating a sub-freezing environment suitable for the more sophisticated frozen treats.

The tradition of flavored ice was brought to Europe from the East. By the Renaissance, they were a popular delicacy among the aristocracy. The Italians, in particular, were instrumental in the evolution of ice cream. By the 16th century, they were enjoying "cream ice," as witnessed by notable visitors such as Charles I of England during his visit to Italy. The French caught on soon after, with Catherine de Medici reportedly introducing sophisticated frozen desserts to France when she married the Duke of Orleans (later King Henry II) in the 16th century.

However, it wasn't until the arrival of refrigeration technologies in the 19th century that ice cream became accessible to the masses. The invention of the hand-cranked freezer in the 1840s allowed ice cream to be produced more easily and cheaply. The 20th century saw the birth of the modern ice cream industry, with the introduction of industrial production techniques and the invention of soft serve, which added a new dimension to the variety of ice cream. Today, ice cream is a global phenomenon, enjoyed in countless flavors and forms worldwide.

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