Ice cream
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Cherryicecream.jpg Ice cream (originally iced cream) is a frozen dessert made from dairy products such as cream (or substituted ingredients), combined with flavourings and sweeteners. This mixture is cooled while stirring to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Although the term "ice cream" is sometimes used to mean frozen desserts and snacks in general, it is usually reserved for frozen desserts and snacks made with a high percentage of milk fat. Frozen custard, ice milk, sorbet and other similar products are often also called ice cream. Governments often regulate the use of these terms based on quantities of ingredients.
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Composition
Modern industrially-produced ice cream is made from a mixture of ingredients:
- 10-16% milk fat
- 9-12% milk solids-not-fat: this component, also known as the serum solids, contains the proteins (caseins and whey proteins) and carbohydrates (lactose) found in milk
- 12-16% sweeteners: usually a combination of sucrose and/or glucose-based corn syrup sweeteners
- 0.2-0.5% stabilizers and emulsifiers e.g., agar or carrageenan extracted from seaweed
- 55%-64% water which comes from milk solids or other ingredients
These ingredients make up the solid part of the ice cream, but only a portion of the final volume, the remainder being air incorporated during the whipping process. Generally, the less expensive the ice-cream, the lower the quality of the ingredients (for example, replacing vanilla bean with artificial vanillin), and the more air is incorporated, sometimes as much as 50% of the total volume. Artisan-produced ice creams, such as Berthillon's, often contain very little air, although some is necessary to produce the characteristic creamy texture of the product. Generally speaking, the finest ice creams have less than 30% air, but more than 15%. Since ice cream is sold by volume, it's economically advantageous for producers to reduce the density of the product in order to cut costs (One of Margaret Thatcher's first jobs was in an ice cream company laboratory, where she was finding ways of increasing the air-content of ice cream). The use of stabilizers rather than actual cream and the incorporation of air also decreases the fat and caloric content of less expensive ice creams, making them more appealing to those on diets.
Ice-creams come in a wide variety of flavours, often with additives such as chocolate flakes or chips, nuts, fruit, and small candies/sweets. Some of the most popular ice cream flavours in supermarkets are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and Neapolitan (a combination of the three). Many people also like ice cream sundaes, which often have ice cream, hot fudge, nuts, whipped cream, cherries and other toppings of their choice.
Production
Image:Ice cream in icebox.jpg Before the development of modern refrigeration ice cream was a luxury item reserved for special occasions.
The making of ice cream was originally a laborious process. The temperature was reduced by placing the ice cream mixture into a container that was immersed in a mixture of crushed ice and salt. The dissolving of salt in water is endothermic and the salt allows liquid water to be below the freezing point of pure water, allowing the immersed container with cream to make better contact with the melted water/ice mixture.
Ice was cut commercially from lakes and ponds during the winter and stored in large heaps in holes in the ground or in wood-frame ice houses, insulated by straw. Ice cream was made by hand in a large bowl surrounded by packed ice and salt. The hand-cranked churn, which still used ice and salt for cooling, was invented by an American named Nancy Johnson in 1846, making production simpler. The world's first commercial ice-cream factory was opened in Baltimore, Maryland in 1851, by Jacob Fussell, a dairy farmer. An unstable demand for his milk led him to mass produce ice cream. This allowed the previously expensive concoction to be offered at prices everyone could afford. Fussell opened ice cream parlors as far west as Texas. Many were still around well into the 20th century. He sold his business to Borden.
The development of industrial refrigeration by German engineer Carl von Linde during the 1870s obviated the cutting and storing of natural ice and then the continuous-process freezer was perfected in 1926, allowing commercial mass production of ice cream and the birth of the modern ice-cream industry.
The most common method for producing ice-cream at home is to use an ice-cream machine, generally an electrical device that churns the ice cream while refrigerated inside a household freezer or using ice and salt for cooling.
Commercial delivery
Today, ice cream is enjoyed around the world on a daily basis thanks to mass production. Ice cream can be purchased in large tubs and squrounds from supermarkets/grocery stores, in smaller quantities from ice cream shops, convenience stores, and milk bars, and in individual serves from small carts or vans at public events and places. There are even some ice-cream distributors who sell ice-cream products door-to-door from travelling refrigerated vans, often equipped with speakers playing a children's music tune. On the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, ice cream is sometimes sold to beachgoers from small powerboats equipped with chest freezers.
History
Persia
Image:Bastani.jpg In 400 BCE, Persians invented a special chilled pudding-like dish, made of rosewater and vermicelli, working out as something like a cross between a sorbet and a rice pudding, was served to the royalty during summers. The Persians had already mastered the technique of storing ice inside giant naturally cooled refrigerators known as yakhchals. These storages kept ice brought in from the winter or from nearby mountains well into the summer. The storages worked by using tall windcatchers that kept the sub-level storage space at frigid temperatures. The ice was then mixed in with saffron, fruits, and various other flavors. The treat, widely made today in Iran, is called "faludeh", which is made from starch (wheat, probably), spun in a kind of sieve-like contraption which produces threads or drops of the batter, which are boiled in water. The mix is then frozen, and mixed with rosewater and lemons, before serving. 1 2
See also Kulfi, another originally Persian form of the ice cream.
Arabia
Ice cream was the favourite dessert for the Caliphs of Baghdad, Arabs were the first to make it or at least commercially as there were ice cream factories in the 10th century and the first to sugar Ice cream, it was sold in markets of all Arab cities in the past. It was made of a chilled syrup or milk with fruits and some nuts. Arabs introduced gelato to the west through Sicily. There are many kinds of Arabian Ice cream "Butha" we can find in the market they have advantages of being healthy and fresh as they are made of fresh milk.
China
There are several popular legends surrounding the discovery of ice cream. Saltpeter was used for the production of gunpowder in China, and the Chinese discovered that saltpeter in water caused the water to absorb heat, thus creating ice in summer.<ref name="fdtmlnQuoteToussaint-Samat">Template:Cite web quoting History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 749-50)</ref> The Chinese put sugar in the ice and sold it as food during the summer. It is believed that the Song dynasty (宋朝) was the time when people began putting fruit juice in the water used to create the ice; milk was beginning to be used in the Yuan dynasty (元朝).Template:Fact Emperor Tang of the Shang Dynasty is said to have had ninety ice-men as servants devoted to preparing and serving chilled food and wine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legends of the recipe for ice cream moving from China to Europe
Popular tradition asserts that Marco Polo saw ice cream being made on his trip to China and took the recipe home to Italy with him on his return.<ref>For example see: Template:Cite web</ref> However, Marco Polo in his writings never claimed to introduce ice cream to the west.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Catherine de Medici's Italian chefs are said to have carried the ice cream recipe to France when she went there in 1533 to marry the Duc d'Orléans.<ref name="fdtmlnQuoteToussaint-Samat"/> One hundred years later Charles I of England was supposedly so impressed by the "frozen snow" that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime pension in return for keeping the formula secret, so that ice cream could be a royal prerogative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There is, however, no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century. Food historians are still searching for the origins of ice cream.
Other frozen treats
While it was not yet ice cream per se, some examples of early pre-planned ice dishes include the Roman emperor Nero (37-68) who is said to have ordered ice to be brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings, and King Tang (618-97) of the Shang Dynasty who is said to have had a method of creating ice and milk concoctions. People living directly alongside snow and ice have probably always put sweet things like honey and fruit juice on frozen water for variety, as some still do to this day. Snow-cones, made from balls of crushed ice topped with sweet syrup served in a paper cone, are consumed in many parts of the world. A popular springtime treat in maple syrup-producing areas is maple toffee, where boiled maple syrup is poured over fresh snow, congealing in a toffee-like mass, eaten from a wooden stick used to pick it up from the snow.
The West
Contemporary western-style ice cream, however, was probably developed in the 1600’s, and was introduced to the United States by colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Confectioners, many of whom were Frenchmen, sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the Colonial era. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were among the elite who regularly ate and served ice cream. Dolley Madison is also closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the United States. In 1843 Nancy Johnson became the first American to patent a handcranked ice cream freezer. This was followed by the invention of the ice cream soda. It was probably invented by Robert Green in 1874, although there is no conclusive evidence to prove his claim. The ice cream sundae originated in the late 19th Century. Several men claimed to have created the first sundae, but there is no solid evidence to back up any of their stories. Some versions say that the sundae was invented to circumvent the Blue Laws, which forbade serving sodas on Sunday. Both the ice cream cone and banana split were popularized in the first years of the 20th century.
20th century
Image:Eisgrotte.JPG Image:Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.jpg
The history of ice cream in the 20th century is one of great change and increase in availability and popularity. In the early 20th century, the ice cream soda was a popular treat at the soda shop, the soda fountain, and the ice cream parlor. During Prohibition, the soda fountain was promoted as an alternative to the saloon.
Ice cream became extremely popular throughout the world in the second half of the 20th Century after cheap refrigeration became common and wages became high enough to indulge in such minor luxuries. Soon there was an explosion of ice cream stores and of flavors and types. Vendors often competed on the basis of variety. Howard Johnson's restaurants advertised "a world of 28 flavors." Baskin-Robbins made its 31 flavors ("one for every day of the month") the cornerstone of its marketing strategy; the company now boasts that it has developed over 1000 varieties.
One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of softer ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member) discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream. This allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, saving money. The ice cream was also very popular amongst consumers who preferred the light flavour, and most major ice cream brands now use this manufacturing process.
The 1990s saw a return of the older, thicker, ice creams being sold as "premium" varieties. Ben and Jerry's, Beechdean, and Häagen-Dazs fall into this category.
Ice cream throughout the world
Globalization has made available ice-cream styles from around the world. For example, Japanese mochi ice cream is now popular in California, even outside Japanese restaurants and Little Tokyos.
Australia
Image:IcecreamVanBatemansBayNSWAustralia.jpg Per Capita, Australians are among the leading ice cream consumers in the world, eating 18 litres each per year; New Zealanders eat 20 litres each per year and people in the United States of America eat 23 litres each per year.<ref name = "Ibisworld">{{cite web
| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2005 | url = http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/31/0c02a331.asp | title = Business Outlook: ice cream manufacturing (based on a report to be found through www.ibisworld.com.au) | format = | work = | publisher = Reed Business Information | accessdate = 2006-03-03 | accessyear =
}}</ref>
Italy
Ice cream today is a traditional dessert in Italy, where it is still mostly hand-made, though one of the most known ice-cream machine makers is the Carpigiani.
Before the cone became popular for serving ice cream, Italian street vendors would serve the ice cream in a small glass dish referred to as a 'penny lick' or wrapped in waxed paper and known as a hokey-pokey (possibly a corruption of the Italian "ecco un poco" - "here is a little").
Italian ice-cream parlours (Eisdielen) are common and popular in Germany where many Italians have immigrated and set up business.
Italy also has its own take on the American favorite that originated at the same time. The most common and popular dessert there is gelato, Italian "ice cream". Gelato is similar but different, it is made from whole milk, eggs, sugar, and flavoring.
United Kingdom
The first English recipe for ice cream was published in London, by Mrs. Mary Eales Receipts in her English cookery book, in 1718. The recipe did not include a process for making the ice smooth and it must have been coarse with ice crystals.
But in the United Kingdom today, much of the lower-priced ice cream sold, including that from some ice cream vans, has no milk or milk solids content at all. Instead, it is made with vegetable oil, usually hydrogenated palm kernel oil. However, ice cream sold as dairy ice cream must contain milk fat, and many companies make sure that dairy is prominently displayed on their packaging or businesses.
In apparent contradiction to the above paragraph, the Ice Cream Alliance Ltd, a trade association for the UK ice-cream industry, says that: "It is necessary for a manufacturer to be aware of the compositional requirements of the country in which he intends to sell his ice cream. In the UK this is a minimum of 5% fat and a minimum of 2.5% milk protein (Schedule 8, the Food Labelling Regulations 1996) [1] (pdf).
In the United Kingdon, per capita consumption of ice cream is only 6 litres per year, which is quite low when compared with countries such as the USA and Australia.
Ice cream cone
Mrs Marshall's Cookery Book, published in 1888, endorsed serving ice cream in cones, but the idea probably predated that cookbook. Agnes Marshall was a celebrated cookery writer of her day and helped to popularise ice cream. She patented and manufactured an ice cream maker and was the first person to suggest using liquid gases to freeze ice cream after seeing a demonstration at the Royal Institution.
The popularity of selling ice cream in cones increased greatly during the St. Louis World's fair in 1904. According to legend, at the World's Fair an ice cream seller had run out of clean dishes, so he couldn't sell any more ice cream. Next door to the ice cream booth was the waffle booth; the waffle maker offered to make cones by rolling up his waffles; the new product became extremely popular at the fair and was widely copied by other vendors.
Using liquid nitrogen
Adding liquid nitrogen with the rest of the ingredients and stirring vigorously produces a very smooth ice cream. The preparation is spectacular, since it results in a column of white condensed vapor, reminiscent of movie depictions of witches' cauldrons. The result, due to the extreme rapid cooling of the mixture, is a very smooth ice cream containing only small ice crystals. After the liquid nitrogen has completely vaporized, the remaining nitrogen bubbles are perfectly harmless, since nitrogen is a major component of Earth's atmosphere.
Ice cream alternatives
The following is a partial list of ice-cream-like frozen desserts and snacks:
- Ice milk: less than 10% milk fat and lower sweetening content, sold as low-fat ice cream in the United States.
- Frozen custard: at least 10% milk fat and at least 1.4% egg yolk and much less air beaten into it, similar to Gelato, fairly rare.
- Frozen yogurt
- Mellorine: non-dairy, with vegetable fat substituted for milk fat
- Gelato: an Italian frozen dessert. Also, simply the italian word for "ice cream".
- Sherbet: 1-2% milk fat and sweeter than ice cream.
- Sorbet: fruit puree and no milk products
- Pop (or popsicle): frozen fruit puree, fruit juice, or flavored sugar water on a stick or in a flexible plastic sleeve.
- Kulfi: brought to Pakistan and India by the Mughals from Persia during the 1500s, later brought to the West as the result of colonialism and immigration.
Some ice creams are made without milk. Soy ice cream and rice ice cream are made with soy milk or rice milk instead. A minority of non-dairy ice creams are based on nut butter. Another popular variation is ice cream made with coconut milk.
See also
- List of ice cream brands
- Arctic roll, Baked Alaska
- Astronaut ice cream
- Brain freeze
- Fried ice cream
- Ice cream sandwich
- Snow cream
- Soft serve
External links
- The Complete Guide To Ice Cream
- Ice Cream History and "who really invented the ice cream cone?"
- History of Icecream
- Ice Cream: A Short History - It all began in China and Arabia
- Cooking with Chemistry, Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
- Frozen Custard the Milwaukee Secret.
- HowStuffWorks's How Ice-Cream Works.
References
<references/>
- David, Elizabeth (1994). "Harvest of the Cold Months: the Social History of Ice and Ices". London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-017641-1.cs:Zmrzlina
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