History of Ice Cream

3 Nov, 2011Featured, Ice Cream

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” What a horrible little rhyme, yes? And yet, it’s pattently true. People have been head over heels in love with ice cream for a number of years. The sweet, frozen confection has been around for a long time, but you might be surprised at just how long mankind has entertained this frozen fetish.

According to the infographic below, ice cream got its humble beginnings in ancient Greece, way back in the 400s BC, as a matter of fact! The Greeks discovered that snow sweetened with honey and fruit amounted to a delicious delicacy that people were also willing to pay for. Many believe that this was the first historic occurrence of ice cream, although not as we know it today by any means. In my family, we have a similar recipe called “Snow Cream” that is made from clean snow, vanilla extract, and sugar. It’s quite good, I assure you. Everytime we make it, I have to be sure to arm the adt system before we go to sleep for the night, lest someone should break in and raid our freezer.

Legend has it that French leader Napoleon Bonaparte was especially fond of ice cream. In the iconic 80s film Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Napoleon, brought to the present through time travel, is taken by Bill and Ted to dine on ice cream for the first time in a throw-back to that historic trivia.

Here is an infographic full of information about the history of this well loved frozen sweet treat.