These days ice-cream is a very popular dessert. Earlier people used to have it only during the summer, but now, it is consumed even in the winter. Do you know where did ice-cream originate from and how it spread to other parts of the world?
Ice-cream originated in China. From there it was brought to Italy by the famous explorer Marco Polo some 700 years ago. Marco polo went to China along with his father and brother in 1271 on a trading expedition. He was surprised to see a frozen food being sold from handcarts on the streets of Peking (now Beijing). It was actually iced confectionary — like frozen milk, sometimes flavoured with fruit juices. Marco Polo was offered it as a gift. He took it with him to Italy. From Italy, the idea got across France when in 1533, Catherine de Medici of Italy went to France and married the second son of Francis I of France. Catherine took with her a large retinue of cooks. It was they who introduced the new delicacy to the French.
The secret of ice-cream preparation was brought to England by the cook of Henrietta Maria of France, who married Charles I in 1630. Soon ice-cream spread all over the world including the USA. The first wholesale factory for the manufacture of ice cream was started in Baltimore, Maryland in 1851. The real development of the ice-cream and the ice-cream business started flourishing only after 1900 with the development of refrigeration.
The ingredients of ice-cream are cream, milk, sugar and sometimes even eggs. Vanilla, Chocolate, Berries, fruit ingredients and nuts are added as flavours. The ice-cream usually contains 20% to 25% cream and milk products, 15% sugar, flavour in small quantities and small amount of stabilizer. The stabilizer is used in order to retain the smoothness of the ice-cream by preventing the formation of coarse ice-crystals. Pure food gelatine is usually used for this purpose.
Ice-cream contains calcium, proteins and Vitamins A and B. We can find varieties of ice-cream in different colours and taste to make them more attractive and acceptable.