Ice Cream!

Summer!! Time for ice cream.


It's likely that ice cream has been around for thousands of years in some form or another. We know it was made in the 1500s in Europe, and by the 1700s it was introduced in the U.S.


Ice Cream Trivia: The University of Guelph in Toronto, Canada, teaches Ice Cream Science.

There was a long-standing myth that Thomas Jefferson introduced it to America, but while it was served in his home, he wasn't the first one to do so.


Here is the recipe his French chef used:
Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Creammakes about 4 pints (2 quarts, 1/2 gallon)
6 yolks of eggs
1/2 lb sugar (1 1/4 cups)
2 bottles (quarts) of good cream (4 pints)
1 vanilla bean
Mix the yolks and sugar together. Put the cream on a fire in a casserole, first putting in a stick of vanilla. When near boiling, take it off and pour it gently into the mixture of eggs and sugar. Stir it well. Put it on the fire again, stirring it thoroughly with a spoon to prevent it's sticking to the casserole. When near boiling, take it off and strain it thro' a towel. Put it in the Sabottiere* then set it in ice an hour before it is to be served. Put into the ice a handful of salt. Put salt on the coverlid of the Sabotiere and cover the whole with ice. Leave it still half a quarter of an hour. Then turn the Sabottiere in the ice 10 minutes open it to loosen with a spatula the ice from the inner sides of the Sabotiere. Shut it & replace it in the ice open it from time to time to detach the ice from the sides when well taken (prise) stir it well with the spatula. Put it in moulds, justling it well down on the knee. Then put the mould into the same bucket of ice. Leave it there to the moment of serving it. To withdraw it, immerse the mould in warm water, turning it well till it will come out and turn it into a plate.

*The Sabottiere is the inner cannister of what we now know as an ice cream maker.


Here's what a basic homemade ice cream recipe includes now:

See what's listed on an ice cream label.                                                                  

                                                                          A serving is 1/2 a cup? That's cute.
Here's how ice cream is made in a factory:

 

• 1. Mixing of ingredients: This will include milk or cream, but also various ingredients to make it smooth. It may also include eggs for richness. The mixing step is most important, to get rid of ice crystals that would break it down.
• 2. The mixture is homogenized and pasteurized: It's heated to kill any bacteria present
• 3. Colors and flavors are added to the mixture
• 4. It is aged: the ice cream is allowed to cool to 40 degrees F for four hours or overnight, this helps it freeze better so it is smoother
• 5. Freezing the mixture
• 6. Adding sauce ingredients, such as caramel or chocolate syrup
• 7. Hardening
• 8. If the ice cream will be shaped into bars or put into cones, it's done now
• 9. Packaging

 In a factory, sometimes the vats hold up to 3000 gallons.

For more about how it's made, check this out: https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream1.htm

In 2002, more than $20 Billion was spent on ice cream. California is #1 in ice cream sales.