Tag Archives: Ice cream

I Scream, You Scream…

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Photo of ice cream sundae

We all scream for ice cream! Without question, ice cream is one of the most popular treats in America, but do you know much about its history?

According to Laura B. Weiss, author of Ice Cream: A Global History, iced drinks can be traced back to at least the ancient Greeks and Romans. But many historians believe that the emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) in China may have been the first to eat a frozen milk-like confection — made with fermented cow, goat or buffalo milk which had camphor added to make it flake like snow. Italians generally are credited with inventing ice cream as we know it today, popularizing a concoction of sugar, flavorings (often fruit like lemon or strawberry), and ice or snow sometime in the mid-seventeenth century. Ice cream was particularly favored by the French aristocracy in the 1800s, and Thomas Jefferson is said to have gained an appreciation for the treat while serving as US ambassador to France from 1784-1789. Continue reading →

National Ice Cream Month, c. 1907

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July is National Ice Cream Month and the Libraries wants you to break out your ice cream maker and try out some recipes … from 1907.

Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature

Recipes from the The Horizontal Freezer Co.'s ce Cream and Candy makers' Factory Guide include pineapple ice cream, pistachio ice cream with spinach coloring, and peach ice cream.

The Ice Cream and Candy Makers’ Factory Guide is located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library. For previous posts about this guide, take a look at one on candy recipes and another one on ice cream recipes.

Yum!

—Elizabeth Periale

Delicious Desserts and Candies

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Delicious desserts and candies (DePrice's Vanilla), c.1923.Delicious desserts and candies (DePrice's Vanilla), c.1923. The original true "Tropic Flavor" of rare excellance [sic], balanced strength & purity. Dr. Price's Extract of True Vanilla.

July is ice cream month, and for those of you that make your own ice cream or other "delicious desserts and candies," maybe this vanilla extract is just what the (Dr. Price) ordered. As is stated on the label:

Flavoring ice cream, cakes, puddings, custards, sauces, gelatine dishes, candies, jellies, syrups and other food products.

And isn't the Tropikid cute?

—Elizabeth Periale

July is For Ice Cream

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Horizontal Freezer Co., Chicago, IL.  Ice Cream and Candy Makers’ Factory Guide, 1907, page 17, Peach Ice Cream, Pistachio Ice Cream, Spinach Coloring, Almond Ice Cream.

Ever tried pistachio ice cream?  Or almond ice cream?

July is National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of July is National Ice Cream Day.  This year, National Ice Cream Day will be on Sunday, July 18.

To celebrate these ice cream holidays, we are featuring an item from the Libraries’ collection called Ice Cream and Candy Makers’ Factory Guide.  This guide from 1907 was the Horizontal Freezer Company’s fourth book on the subject.  It has all sorts of ice cream recipes and is meant to be used by both the beginner and expert ice cream maker.

Here are just some of the flavors in the guide:  Peach ice cream.  Chocolate ice cream.  Pineapple ice cream made Philadelphia style.  Crushed Strawberry Cream using strawberries and oranges.   And even pistachio ice cream made with spinach coloring. 

Ice Cream and Candy Makers’ Factory Guide by the Horizontal Freezer Co. is located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library.  More images from the guide are available on Flickr.  For previous posts about this guide, take a look at one on candy recipes and another one on ice cream recipes.

Happy National Ice Cream Month!  And have a Happy National Ice Cream Day on July 18!

—Alexia MacClain

Care for Some Hot Pink Baked Alaska?

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At least that's what we think is being featured on the cover of this wonderful item from the Culinary Historians of Washington (CHoW).

The original impetus for this post was the commemoration of the ice cream freezer, which was patented In 1843. A second patent was granted on May 30, 1848. Ice cream and patents soon led to desserts and cookbooks . . . 

The National Museum of American History culinary history collection features many wild and wonderful recipe books from CHoW and other sources.


Elegant desserts. [by] staff home economists: Melanie de Proft, director [and others]. Illustrated by Kay Lovelace.

—Elizabeth Periale