Ice cream is a universal food that is prepared from a few basic ingredients: whipped cream, water, sugar and sweeteners to give it a specific flavor. Once these ingredients have been mixed, they proceed to pasteurization and a final cooling phase.
It is a refreshing, creamy and ideal product to consume during the summer. It has very different sizes, shapes and flavors and there are water or sorbets, milk and cream. From a nutritional point of view, it has a high caloric level. The list of flavors is practically endless, but the most popular are lemon, chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.
As for its preparation, there are two ways, homemade or using an ice cream machine. The gastronomic discipline that is responsible for their preparation is the ice cream parlor and the artisan who makes them is the ice cream maker.
A product associated with childhood
Being a very refreshing, sweet product with all kinds of flavors, ice cream is very attractive to children. In fact, the ice cream parlors are decorated with intense colors and an atmosphere that connects with the tastes of the little ones.
From a scientific point of view, the success of ice creams among children has an explanation: its active consumption of exorphins in the brain and this generates a feeling of well-being and pleasure.
A historical brushstroke
Its exact origin is unknown, but it is very likely that the first ice cream was the result of ice-cold drinks or snow that were brought from the mountains. Frozen drinks are the gastronomic antecedent of ice cream. It is believed that the first recipe appeared in China and later spread to India, Persia, Greece and Rome. In its origins it was a food destined for the upper echelons, since the popular classes had no means at their disposal to cool it.
When Marco Polo returned from his travels in Asia, he brought ancient recipes that soon became very popular in the Italian courts. Later, the Italian ice cream masters of the seventeenth century began to sell "gelato" on the street and in a short time this product was known throughout Europe and America.
In 1846 the American Nancy Johnson invented the first automatic ice cream maker
At the end of the 19th century, the first machines to homogenize ice cream appeared in France, and from then on the history of industrial ice cream parlor began. Currently there are two main types of this product: the American and the European. American ice creams are normally fattier and denser. The United States, Canada and New Zealand are the countries that consume them the most.
Photos: Fotolia - Jeni / Bernardbodo
