Frozen in time
An insoluble mixture of creams and milk aerated to form frozen air bubbles, next sugar and flavour added to lower the freezing point producing the softest ice creams on this earth.
Was it King Solomon's Harvested Iced drink, Nero Caesar's ice cream made of snow from the mountains and fruit juices, Alexander's honey-flavored mixture of snow, or simply Tang Dynasties' frozen mixture of flour, milk, and camphor confuses historians But this cup of the joy of any version across the globe came into existence from time to time by the flavors people liked.
What Marco Polo brought to Italy was something that resembled the Arab’s “sherbet” or “sorbetto” an iced mixture made into frozen desserts and sugar but the first official ice cream was French Antonio Latini’s “milk-based sorbet”. In 1686, Francesco, the Father of Italian Gelato, served Gelato in bowls in café Procope. The Syrian concessionaire Ernest A. Hamwi can be credited for the Zalebis / waffles rolled into a cone and encouraging them to use it as an ice cream cone topping it with a dollop of ice cream to replace containers of Ice cream.
During the world wars, it became a rage in America where floating Ice cream parlors served the troops and sailors in World War II. The Inventions in refrigeration (mechanical), and new freezing processes made it an exotic dessert for elites by the late 19th century. Later on, a mixture of carbonated water with different flavor syrups, a soda jerk, was served with ice or Ice cream to socialize and entertain the guests on Sundays giving it the name “Ice cream Sunday” but was later changed to "sundae” to remove any connections to this “sinfully rich ice cream sodas” with the “Sabbath”(a day of religious observance and abstinence). Burt Baskin, a soldier, continued his ice cream business after the war from where he obtained the equipment . In 1946 opened up Burton's Ice Cream Shop with the idea of giving different 31 flavours for each day of the month and made the world's largest chain of ice creams – Baskin and Robbins with his cofounder Irv Robbins in California.
In the Indian subcontinent roots, there has been the provenance of cold deserts mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari (1590, The Mughal era). Ice was brought down from the Hindu Kush mountains, of the northern mountain regions, and Desserts were prepared with condensed milk mixture, nuts, and saffron then frozen into metal cones using a mixture of slurry ice and salt. It is one of the popular desserts the Kulfi or Qulfi (Persian). This is served with the 400 BC version of Persian chilled rose water and vermicelli called “Faloodeh “or “Falooda”.
These oldest flavors still have its existence in the northern regions of India as delicate, handmade traditional seasonal like Malaiyyo, Nimish, or Daulat ki chaat in the winding lanes of Banaras (Varanasi), Lucknow, or Chandni Chowk (Delhi) in winter ( November to March). Traditionally prepared when chilled creamy whipped milk in early morning dews and flavored with saffron, cardamom, pistachio, and rosewater. Far away from its sophisticated machine-made counterparts, can make one crave for it till the next season which simply vanishes into the mouth.
The southern regions of India although far from the Himalayas,117-year-old shop Mumbai's Badshah Cold Drinks (Crawford Market), serves it in a glass of colorful ice cream bathed in rose, and khus and garnishing it with greyish-black basil seed with a reddish-green hue.
Gianni’s Gurcharan Singh 1956, a traditional sweet maker in 1956 ‘s old Delhi Giani-di-Hatti bought a second-hand machine and made ice cream with his hands. The residents of the walled city called him “Giani” (“the learned” in Punjabi), which later became a household name, and was one of the famous ice creams among professionals and celebrities of that era.
‘Mastani’ - simply meant splendid! or named after the second wife of Baji Rao Peshwa of Pune, established its monopoly over the mango desert Started by Sharadrao Kondhalkar(1967) named it "Sujata Mastani" after his daughter “Sujata”.This concoction of milk, and ice cubes, topping it with ice cream sold at 80 paise per drink was a best seller.
In 1984 Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath’s unusual idea of offering something cold after a hot and spicy Pav Bhaji started serving fruit-flavoured ice creams in his Juhu’s Koliwada (Mumbai). In the next 37 years ‘Naturals’ became a household name.
The Milk revolution and major players in India
Amul a brainchild of GCMMF, a cooperative milk marketing limited,a motivation behind the milk revolution in India started its journey toward ice cream in 1996 (Gujrat). Among the major players in the ice cream brands Mumbai being the main market were Kwality Walls, Metro, Mother Dairy, and Rollick. The Kwality, owned by Pishorilal Lamba (1956), imported machinery and agreed with Hindustan Unilever to launch under the umbrella name Wall's Ice Cream (a brand from Great Britain).
The East Asian art of perfection
Daifuku, Mantou to Mochi Ice creams.
The East Asian variation is an art of perfection where experts from construction to microbiology were brought in to prepare a Mochi ice cream. A traditional Japanese confectionary A bean-filled Daifuku or Manju, a ‘wa-gashi’ that was served along with green tea was originally a Chinese Montou that was brought to Japan in 1341. Yukimi Daifuku’s Daifuku mochi also called great luck rice cake was prepared using techniques to maintain a perfect temperature, consistency, and viscosity. In 1993 Frances Hashimoto (CEO of Mikawaya) made vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry-flavoured ice cream orbs inside these rice cakes thus starting a Mochi product line. Other flavors, such as Kona coffee, plum wine, green tea, and red bean were added to this frozen treat. In the UK in 2021, it became a viral TikTok trend.
In the coming year new stories may come up but what remains the same is the bursting flavors and the icy numbness inside the mouth while gorging in a shivering chilly and foggy winter or a sweaty summer in a favorite neighborhood parlour.