Ice cream

**Ice cream** is a frozen dessert made from cream and ice, with added flavors and sweeteners. This mixture is quickly frozen while it is stirred continuously in a mixer, so that large ice crystals do not form. Some ice cream is made with carrageenan, a gum found in seaweed so that it is not sticky and easily eatable. Nowadays, ice cream comes with different flavors, shapes, colors and textures. It has a melting point of .

### Early history

Ice cream was first eaten as early as 500 BC in Persia. In the Achaemenid Empire, ice cream was made of ice combined with flavorings. Just like modern ice cream, this type of ice cream is eaten during summer. In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special type of ice cream reserved to the royalty during summers. This type of ice cream is made of rose water and vermicelli. The ice in this particular ice cream was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavors.

In 200 BC, the Chinese used a frozen mixture of milk and rice to make ice cream.

A Roman cookbook from the 1st century includes recipes for sweet desserts that are sprinkled with snow.

### Growth

In the 17th century  sorbets and ice creams were made by adding salt to ice, making it  freeze.

There are lots of stories about the history of ice cream, but not much real evidence.

Ice cream became very popular in the Mediterranean in the 1800s. Mediterranean people during the 1800s could easily afford ice cream. People started to make lots of recipes for ice cream.  Before refrigeration they had to collect ice and store it in ice houses.

From the 1950s onward, ice cream became a lot more popular. Refrigeration was easily affordable because many people owned fridges that could store ice cream for a very long time without melting.

## Preparation

There are lots of ways to make ice cream. Most people don't make ice cream, because it is easier to buy.

Shops make ice cream by mixing cream and other things like milk, sugar, and eggs. Then they add flavoring (something that adds flavor to a food). Then they freeze it.

A method of making ice cream is by putting cream, milk, and sugar in a plastic bag. Then put ice and salt in a bigger bag. Putting the smaller bag inside the bigger bag, and then shaking it for five to 10 minutes will make ice cream.

## Sale of ice cream

People sell ice cream through many ways. Ice cream in containers can be purchased from supermarkets. Ice cream may also be purchased on a cone or other ways like a small bowl or a stick. A very common way to purchase ice cream is from an ice cream truck. There are also ice cream shops that sell ice cream as their main product. A popular brand of Ice Cream in the United States is Ben & Jerry's.

## Types of ice cream

There are many different flavors of ice cream. Ice cream often has things added to it for flavor, like chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, cookie dough, sweets, sauces or small candies.

Traditionally, the three most common flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. There are ice cream flavors that are very similar, such as french vanilla, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, chocolate chip, and strawberry cheesecake.

Chocolate chips, or little pieces of dark or white chocolate, are a common addition to ice cream. Three common chocolate chip ice creams are chocolate chip (with vanilla ice cream), mint chocolate chip or mint 'n chip (made with peppermint, spearmint, or creme de menthe ice cream), and chocolate chip (with chocolate ice cream). Peppermint ice cream without chips is also a common flavor.

Many ice creams contain fruits. Besides strawberry, common fruit flavors are cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and peach. Some citrus fruits, such as orange and lime, are made into sherbets instead of ice cream.

Nut flavors include butter pecan, butter almond (both of which contain vanilla or caramel ice cream with nuts), pistachio, and peanut butter.

Coffee (mocha, cappuccino, espresso) and caramel (english toffee, butterscotch, rum) are also common ice cream flavors.

There are many ice cream flavors that contain some mixture of chocolate, fudge, coffee, caramel, nuts, and marshmallows. The most common is Rocky Road (chocolate ice cream, nuts and marshmallows), but others include Mocha Almond Fudge (made with almond nuts, fudge, and coffee ice cream) and Tax Crunch (coffee, nuts, and malt powder).

Some ice creams are a mixture of two or more ice creams. Neapolitan is a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry; while spumoni is a mixture of chocolate and various fruit flavors.

Outside of the United States and Canada, flavors include dulce du leche (Mexico), macupino and lychee (both China).

Ice cream mixed with milk and often sugar and syrups is called a milkshake.

Many ice cream parlors, such as Cold Stone Creamery, allow people to make something called a sundae, which is one or more flavors of ice cream mixed with things such as nuts, dark or white chocolate chips, bananas, cherries, pineapples, candies, cookies, marshmallows, and various syrups such as hot fudge, maple and butterscotch. Also, ice cream is often placed on a piece of pie, which is called "pie a la mode".

## Related pages

- Ice cream sandwich
- Sherbet