1. The history of ice cream began with the ice, its low temperature chilling
bowls and glasses containing water, sugar, and flavorings. These were
the ancient flavored ices. With refrigeration yet to be invented during
those times, ice was taken from snow and frozen water.
From there, in simultaneous fashion spanning centuries and continents,
the Chinese, Italians, French, Persians and Arabs, English and
Americans developed their own ice concoctions, with influences from
the other, in various forms evolving from simple chilled sweet drinks to
water ices and the more elaborate recipes for ice creams using dairy
and eggs.
Its popularity never waned, with more and more invented ice cream
dessert spin-offs coming off production lines and artisanal ice cream
churns in various parts of the world. Iced creations were exclusively the
domain of royalty and high income households because ice was not
easily sourced, until much later when hand churns and manual ice
cream makers developed into electric machines coupled with
refrigeration that enabled ice cream to be widely available to the
general public.
The ancient flavored ices initially were concoctions of water, sugar and
flavorings of either fruits, fruit juices, and essences. Later on, the first ice
creams that evolved into what we consume today were created out
of chilled creams and whole milk. Custard based ice creams evolved
from the French and Italians. Vanilla, the classic favorite, spawned a
genre of other flavors both simple and sophisticated.
In tracing the origins of these “iced creams,” food historians look to old
period cookbooks for clues and references. In Alan Davidson’s Oxford
Companion to Food, for example, notes the first recorded use of the
term ice cream and the publication of English ice cream recipes in

2. 1672 and 1718 respectively. The latter was from Mrs. Mary Eales’ recipe.
In the United States, ice cream was first served in 1744 and would be
adapted into the national consciousness as a favorite dessert much
later into the century, Davidson writes.
Ice cream was made using “a wooden bucket freezer with rotary
paddles.” Ice mixed with salt lowered the temperature of the ice
cream as it was made in the bowl/bucket (Mary Bellis, About.com).
In the United States, Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia patented a hand-
cranked churn and freezer that became a precursor to similar ice
cream makers used today. The United States Patent Office issued
patent number US000003254 to Johnson on September 9, 1843 under
the title “Artificial Freezer.” The machine “produced smoother ice
cream than the pot freezer and did it quicker” (Wikipedia).
Commercial ice cream production began in 1851 after Jacob Fussell
opened “the first large-scale commercial ice cream plant” in Baltimore
(Bellis, About.com). Mechanical refrigeration enabled the treats to be
widely available from manufacture to distribution. From then on, ice
cream found its way to many households not only in the United States
but all over the world.
Credits to gourmandia