The Ice cream is a fresh and mouthwatering dessert that has managed to win everyone over thanks to its countless flavors.

Known throughout the world, it has origins that go back a long way. Today in the Indian subcontinent, a similar dessert, kulfi, is prepared. In the world Western instead, milk or fruit ice creams are common, which, depending on processing and ingredients, are divided into: sorbets, artisanal and organic, packaged and industrial or puffed ice creams. Ice cream is also used as the main ingredient in special dessert as a filling for brioche pastry, in milkshakes or parfaits, particular ice cream cakes.

L'Italy, considered the home of ice cream, is the only country where artisanal production covers about half of the market. This fame is due to the large number of ice cream parlors in the area, the history and custom associated with the consumption of this product, but also to the great variety of products offered to the public, thanks to local traditions and the skill of the producers.

The many variations of ice cream

Ice cream is enjoyed by all age groups. Its seemingly simple processing today is done through the use of industrial machines that mix the ingredients, amalgamate the texture by whisking and incorporating air. A job initially done by hand that machines have greatly facilitated. What makes ice cream so distinctive, velvety and soft while being cold, is precisely the presence of air. Depending on the amount of bubbles inside, we distinguish artisanal ice cream, which has a smaller amount of air, from industrial ice cream also called ice cream, which has a larger percentage.

All ice cream must be chilled. The mixture must be set in motion during refrigeration in order to incorporate air and take on the typical texture of ice cream. Once made, they are then offered in the classic cone, in cups, or as a filling for the typical brioches col tuppo, especially in Southern Italy. Another excellence of the South, particularly of the city of Naples, is the Babà stuffed with ice cream and the Roccobabà.

Ice cream can be made with a milk base or with a fruit base. The most classic flavors are: fiordilatte, cream, chocolate, coffee, stracciatella, bacio (prepared with chocolate and hazelnuts), hazelnut, yogurt and zabaglione. Regarding fruit-based ice cream (or sorbet) the tastes most common are strawberry, peach, blueberry but also pear, apple, and orange; more recently, exotic and tropical fruit flavors have also become popular.

Of course, over the years, to enable even those with food allergies and intolerances to enjoy this delicacy, vegetable or lactose-free ice cream flavors have been produced, employing rice or soy milk, or water-based. More recent still are protein ice creams or those mixed with cookies such as the flavor with the much-loved oreos.

The sorbet

Known as sorbet, this type of ice cream is generally made with water, fruit and sugar, in fact it is less creamy but fresher and lighter. It is perfect, in fact, as a conclusion to a meal or as a snack to cool off in warmer seasons.

It may happen that some ice cream makers choose to make sorbet by adding to this traditional recipe, a small amount of milk or fats to make the texture more creamy and homogeneous.

The preparation of homemade ice cream

The main ingredient is the milk, followed by a lower percentage of cream and sugar. A small amount of powdered milk may also be present to give the ice cream more body. The basic ice cream mixture, however, must be categorically pasteurized both as a matter of hygiene and healthiness and to make the consistency as homogeneous as possible.

Some recipes also include the use of eggs to ensure more creaminess, and nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts and pine nuts are often used.

Some ice cream parlors to simplify processing start with fiordilatte to which industrial semi-processed pastes are later added to diversify the product into various flavors. Flavoring can be done either by means of natural flavors such as vanilla bean, lemon peel and various liqueurs or by using artificial flavors.

In the preparation of homemade ice cream, it is permissible to use emulsifiers that give a softer texture to the ice cream, without using pasteurized eggs.

The preparation of industrial ice cream

Industrial ice cream, unlike artisanal ice cream, is produced long before it is consumed and has a long shelf life if stored well. For these reasons, preparations and materials such as powdered milk, concentrated fruit juices, and additives such as coloring agents, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and flavorings are used in its preparation, with compressed air added to the mixture. They are, in fact, also called puffed ice creams.

The history of ice cream

Even during the earliest ages, peoples had already realized that during colder periods, certain foods such as milk and fruits at lower temperatures could be preserved longer.

In China, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), a very special dish was prepared by heating and fermenting milk, koumiss, to which flour and leaves of camphor, a tree native to the Asian continent, were then added. The dish was refrigerated before being served. Later the poet Yang Wanli, at the time of the Sung Dynasty (1127-1206) describes a delicacy of the time made with frozen milk and served crispy.

In the 9th century it was imported to Sicily, from the lands of the Arabs, the cultivation of sugarcane and with it also the tradition concerning the preparation of sorbet. Sugar was in fact one of the main ingredients with which it was prepared. A simple infusion of water, sugar, herbs and spices frozen by pouring it inside vessels surrounded by ice and to which salts were added that accelerated the process. Of this evidence can be read the notes of the Arab writer, Ibn Ankal, who writes thus, "Along the beach, in the environs of Palermo, the reed of Persia grows vigorously and covers the ground entirely; from it the sauce is extracted by pressure."

In Sicily there were real icehouses on the Sicilian Apennines that were used to store snow to be sold later in blocks during the warmer seasons. Sicilian lands naturally abounded in salt and snow due to the simultaneous proximity to the sea and the presence of Mount Etna, the Ibei Mountains, and the Madonie ridge.

The spread of sorbet to the rest of theEurope, occurred only after the 16th century, when detailed descriptions of the freezing process began to propagate. As early as 1660it arrived in other Italian cities such as Naples and Florence but also in Spain and Paris. It was in Florence that during the Medici regency, eggs, milk and cream were mixed for the first time, creating a cold dessert that was the promoter of the more modern ice cream. In Naples, on the other hand, in 1784, the manual De' Sorbetti written by Filippo Baldini. Soon thereafter, a type of ice cream made with cream, fruits and flavorings that had many ice crystals inside them also began to spread.

In 1671 an ice cream was first served to Charles II of England, king of France, England, Scotland and Ireland. A few years later, in 1688, this new dessert also appeared at a gala dinner in Stockholm.

The evolution continued throughout the eighteenth century, when "iced creams" began to be prepared in France, involving the use of sugar, fruit, flavorings, and the introduction of eggs, which made the product creamier and less icy. "fromage glacé" and "tourte à la glace," i.e., frozen cream cheese and ice cream cake, appeared.

The invention of ice cream between Sicily and Paris

The origin of real ice cream is recognized worldwide as Italian. It was still in Sicily subsequently to the discovery of the Arab tradition of sorbet, came the invention of the actual recipe of ice cream attributed to Sicilian cook Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli. From Aci Trezza, Sicily, the cook perfected his ice cream recipe and reached as far as France, where he became famous under the name Le Procope. In Paris he opened the first ice cream shop in 1686, in a historic establishment still operating that bears the name Café Procope. The great success that ensued prompted the chef to move to another and larger location that stood opposite the theater Comédie Française, located on the street that still bears the name Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie. It was this introduction to France that made ice cream, a dessert famous in the rest of Europe.

The spread of Italian ice cream

In 1884 the famous Pepino ice cream shop was opened in Turin, named after the Neapolitan ice cream-making family. In fact, the family sought its fortune in the north, moving to Piedmont and importing to this region the secret of the Italian ice cream. Hence the first sale of ice cream in northern Italy, which, moreover, could boast of "Royal Household Supplier" patents.

Over time, however, the Italian ice cream recipe was perfected and exported abroad also from the Venetian tradition such as that of the ice cream cone widespread in Val di Zoldo and the Cadore area in the province of Belluno. Ancient ice cream tradition also belongs to Florence where today the Gelato Festival is celebrated with the special Buontalenti cream, from the architect who was credited with the invention of Florentine ice cream.

Legends related to ice cream

Around the wonderful invention of ice cream, there could be no shortage of fascinating legends. It is said that the first evidence of ice cream was found in Egypt, inside a tomb dating back to the 2nd Dynasty of the pharaohs (around 2700 B.C.). Apparently there was a mold with two silver bowls: into one went ice or snow and into the other went fruit. A rudimentary form of ice cream machine.

Another famous legend, however, is related to the origins of ice cream and its evolution in Florence. According to this tale, it was a poultry seller, Ruggieri of Florence, who, passionate about cooking had combined cream, zabaglione and fruit, thus creating ice cream. With this invention of his he became famous at the French court to such an extent that he was commissioned to make ice cream at the wedding of Queen Catherine de' Medici and Henry of Orleans.