
The Ice Cream: A Recipe from 1687 - Petiver
https://rarecooking.com/2019/07/10/the-ice-cream/
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todd8
My dad grew up in rural Iowa almost 100 years ago. He didn't have electricity
or running water and no air conditioning or refrigeration. Ice cream was a
rare treat that could be bought on a trip into town or perhaps made in the
winter.

Ice was available in the winter, and also in the summer because large blocks
of ice would be cut from frozen ponds during the winter and stored in ice
houses. These ice houses here partially underground structures, like a barn
but buried up to their roof underground.

I saw an ice house that was no longer in use as a young child, and as I recall
(I would have been perhaps seven years old) I was told that it was filled with
sawdust, hay, or straw to insulate the blocks of ice.

Today, the reported underground temperature in Iowa at 40 inches is about 65°F
(18°C) and deeper it can reaches a steady state temperature of 45 to 50°F (7
to 13 °C). I don't know how late into summer those ice blocks survived.

I remember growing up that my father greatly enjoyed making homemade ice
cream; I suppose it connected him to the happy times of his quite difficult
childhood.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Stately homes in the UK often have an ice-house in the grounds somewhere. I
think they're sited to make use of underground water, as in the use of
underground streams in the Yakhchal. A damp shaded spot can be surprisingly
cool in Summer.

As an aside the Ancient Greeks had a type of wine cooler that worked on
evaporative cooling using an exterior porous pot and an internal glazed pot,
with wet sand placed in the gap.

~~~
cr0sh
> As an aside the Ancient Greeks had a type of wine cooler that worked on
> evaporative cooling using an exterior porous pot and an internal glazed pot,
> with wet sand placed in the gap.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-
pot_refrigerator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-pot_refrigerator)

Still in use today, especially in the "developing world" \- usually as a means
to keep certain medicines and drugs cooled that would go bad without it.

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jorams
The original recipe consists of one sentence about the ingredients and then a
long description of a method for freezing it. The reworked recipe is just a
fairly normal ice cream recipe with some added rosewater.

> If you recreate the recipe using the original method, please let me know how
> it goes in the comments!

So really the only thing they got from the recipe is that perhaps rosewater is
a possible ingredient for ice cream?

~~~
dunham
I was a little disappointed at the write up too. They're cutting the cream
with milk (typical in modern recipes) without explanation beyond what sounds
like "I tossed the recipe and adopted a modern one".

There is no discussion of why the old version doesn't turn into a solid block
of ice. (Fat content from using straight cream? Short chilling time?)

The interesting thing here would be the texture if you'd actually followed the
recipe (after researching fat content of cream at the time).

~~~
mchanson
I can almost guarantee that there was not 3/4c sugar used in the ice cream in
the 17th century. Sweets were no where that sweet. They would have just used
heavier cream instead I bet (since the sugar helps with texture in the lower
fat modern ice cream recipes).

~~~
dunham
Any idea what the fat content of cream would have been? I know they’ve got
single/double cream in England and light/heavy cream on this side of the pond,
but no idea what it actually is if you make it the old fashioned way.
(Skimming the top off of cows milk?)

~~~
dsr_
Taking all the visible cream from whole milk that has been left to stand and
separate gets you 15 - 20% fat, depending on the breed of cattle and what
they've been eating.

That's comparable to what the UK calls "single cream" (18%) and the US calls
"light cream" (18% minimum, can be up to 29%).

~~~
JasonFruit
You can increase that ratio considerably if you take off most, but not all,
the cream.

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fyfy18
The original recipe sounds like it would have more of the texture of a
smoothie or slushy than ice cream. Not doing that seems like missing half the
recipe.

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markvdb
Persian ice cream tradition since 500 BC:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastani_sonnati](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastani_sonnati)

~~~
lm28469
They must have really liked ice cream to go through the trouble of
transporting/storing ice in Iran 2500 years ago. The logistic must have been
impressive.

~~~
ahje
There are plenty of mountains in Iran. Can't be _that_ hard to water freeze
over winter, and then bring large blocks of ice down the mountainside with a
sturdy cart come spring.

Bothersome, yes, but not that incredible.

Edit: They had building where water was frozen during winter and ice stored
during summer:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhcha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhcha)

~~~
cpach
Here’s a working link :) Such an amazing structure!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l)

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acd
www.icecreamhistory.net. Retrieved 31 August 2018. "History of ice creams
begun around 500 B.C. in the Persian Empire where ice was used in combination
with grape juices, fruits, and other flavors to produce very expensive and
hard to produce summertime treats."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream#History)

~~~
qrybam
Still amazes me how the Persians invented a way to create and then store ice
through the summer months for these treats.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l)

~~~
ant6n
Unfortunate how these traditional building methods for cooling have been
replaced by loud and wasteful ACs etcs

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mathw
I'm unfamiliar with a convention in the updated ingredients list - what's "3 T
rosewater"? I'm guessing it's probably tsp - teaspoons - but one doesn't want
to overdo the rosewater! Clearly this is something I'm expected to understand,
but I've never seen it before.

~~~
danielparks
The convention is that capital T is tablespoons and lowercase t is teaspoons.

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JadeNB
The original mentions "Roach Allom", but the update says nothing about it.
What is it?

~~~
gatherhunterer
Potassium aluminum sulfate, the salt used to keep the ice cold for longer.

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tpetry
Interesting how the ingredients did not change that much to nowadays. 2 parts
cream for 1 part milk is still widely used. The amount of sugar may be a
little bit different but is still widely correct too.

~~~
dunham
The original recipe (quoted in the article) called for all cream and only
"sugar rosewater" for sweetening (no amount specified), frozen on salted ice
for one hour with no churning or mixing.

The "updated" recipe was just a standard, modern ice cream recipe with some
rosewater added, churned in a modern ice cream machine and then frozen for two
hours.

