The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-08-05
THE HISTORY OF ICECREA
First Discovered in Northern Pennsyl-

There is considerable difference be-
tween the ice cream of the present day
and that which would have been eaten
by the pilgrim fathers, had they had
any. as the art of making the cooling
and refreshing dish has made surpris-
ing advancement since the early days
of its manufacture. Ice-cream, so the
history of it goes, is not an invention,
but discovery, like many of the best
things which have fallen to the use of
man; and, strange to say, it was dis
covered almost simultaneously with the
discovery of this great continent, and
stranger still it was made by an Indian
woman of one of the tribes in northern
Pennsylvania. The aborigines in that
part of the state used the milk of the
cow elk, and they kept their milk in
jugs hewn out of stone. The milk
frequently froze and was generally
thrown away as useless; but one of the
squaws took to eating it and found it
good, and she took to freezing it regu-
larly, until her red-skinned lord made
a vigorous kick on the extravaganza of
her ssing up all the milk, but every
time the buck went on hunting trip
she had her frozen milk, which was the
real predecessor of ice-cream, and many
of the squaws of her own tribe followed
her example, until it became quite a
custom. When sugar was brought
among them the Indians took to sweet
ening their frozen milk. The white
settlers took to the new dish, and the
avidity with which it was consumed led
to the regular establishment of it among
the trade.
The primitive method of making ice
cream by the confectioner of the revolu-
tionary days was vastly different from
the way it is made now. First the
sweetened milk was simply CONCEALED
and then broken up with ladle. Then
it was found that cream alone made a
better dish, and also that an egg or two
added to its richness and body, and that
if the air was beaten into it the cream
increased nearly twice in quantity. The
trade fell entirely into the hands of the
bakers and confectioners, and the first
work at which the bakers apprentice
was put in those days was beating up
ice-ercam with wooden paddle. The
ice-cream season had no pleasures for
him, for he spent his days, and fire.
quently his nights, agitating the frozen
sweetness with his wooden paddle.
"llIlo MS COHiDsillOHS Will lneiT girls,
helped to eat the fruit of his labors.
As the demand for the delectable dish
increased the old paddle method was
found to be too slow, and machinery
was devised by which the work could
be done by steam, water and horse
power, and now the beaters revolye
within the closed can while revolving
blades cut the frozen cream from the
sides of the vessel.
The growth and development of the
trade has brought so much machinery
into use that upon it depends vast
number of people for livelihood. Thou
sands are engaged in the making of the
different appliances for its manufacture;
thousands more are employed exclusive
ly in the making of it. and thousands
are indirectly supplied with work
through it Even doctors and lawyers
owe many fee to 1.-THE doctors earn
ing theirs in prescribing for collie
brought on by over-indulgenc in it.
and the lawyers getting, if not earning.
theirs by means of suits for breach of
promise made over the love-inspiring
and seductive dish. - Philadelphia
NeL0S.