History and Development of Ice Cream
Ice cream is often called "The Great American Dessert". Although the product is typically American, the U.S. cannot claim its origin. Very little is known of the early history of ice cream; however, the product is definitely known to have been introduced from Europe. The ice cream industry as we know it today, however was wholly developed in the United States.
Ice cream undoubtedly evolved from iced beverages and fruit ices that were popular in early medieval periods, some of which probably contained milk or cream. The practice, in early times, of cooling drinks in ice and snow containing salt is a matter of record. It seems possible that in overcooling some of these punches, the "ice" was discovered. At any rate, various records of frozen fruit flavored ices have been found in European history and frozen ices are still more popular in continental Europe than in the United States and Canada.
The United States has gained undisputed leadership among all other countries in the production of ice cream. The industry grew slowly until about 1900, when the output of ice cream did not exceed 25 to 30 million gallons per year. The annual production has been on a continuously increasing rate, with production of both soft and hard ice cream now at more than one billion gallons. This represents a per capita consumption of more than 19 pounds. Approximately 9% of the total U.S. milk production is utilized by the ice cream industry.
History and Development of Non-Dairy Mixes and Products
The first frozen or semi-frozen desserts and drinks were developed from non-dairy mixes, consisting mainly of fruit or berry juices, sugar and water. References can be found throughout the histories of Turkey, India and other Asiatic countries concerning desserts made by pouring a mixture of fruit or berry juice and sugar over snow, packed into cups. Alexander the Great, immediately after his conquest of Egypt in 345 B.C., caused fifteen trenches to be dug and filled with snow brought down from higher elevations, so that he might have the means of gratifying his taste for these cooled "punches".
This type of drink retained its popularity throughout the years and is still served in many areas of the country under names which usually contain the word "snow", such as "snow cone", "snow berry", etc. Machines are still available designed to finely pulverize block or cube ice, which is then packed into a cup and topped with a few fluid ounces of fruit or berry juice and served exactly the same as it was over 2,000 years ago.
Salt was used with snow or ice to further reduce the temperature of these "punches" below the normal melting point. This enabled the product to be served at 26 degrees F to 29 degrees F which produced a slushy consistency with far better holding qualities than when made simply from ice and flavor. However, it was not until the late 1920's when mechanical refrigeration, found in the average dairy plant manufacturing hard ice cream, enabled the production of true water and fruit ices.
Development of Direct Service, Soft Ice Cream and
Milkshake Dispensing Equipment
The early 1930's saw several companies enter into the development of relatively small freezers, designed for use either in a small wholesale ice cream business or retail ice cream store. These early freezers were all of the batch type, designed to freeze a definite quantity during one operation and when empty, refilled again for the next batch. Generally, these batch freezers were incorprated with a hardening cabinet and were located in a room separate from the serving area. Very few automatic features were incorporated in these early machines. The operation was generally carried out by the use of manual control, requiring a trained operator on duty at all times.
By the middle '30's, it was recognized by a few of the manufacturers, that this type of equipment could eventually eliminate the hand dipping of ice cream. Therefore, all effort was channeled into the development of automatic, continuous freezers that would be simple to operate, clean and assemble. The design of the serving gates were changed to make it more easier for the operator to build cones, ala modes and sundaes. The last few years have seen a rapid increase in the use of this type of dispensing freezer.
Development of Direct Service, Dispensing Freezers
for Non-Dairy Products
No one has yet introduced a semi-frozen or frozen product made from a non-dairy mix that cannot be made in the average soft ice cream or milkshake dispensing freezer. However, most of these non-dairy products do require modification of the mix feed and temperature control systems, if the product is to be manufactured and served on an automatic basis.
The first machines specifically designed to handle these non-dairy mixes began to appear in quantity during the late 1950's. At that time, considerable interest developed in a product called "Slush," which was served in a liquid state, but at temperatures between 27 degrees F and 30 degrees F. This product was difficult to control automatically, which resulted in some of dispensing freezer manufacturers specifically designing machines to produce this slush product. Because of the special requirements for consistency control and automatic mix feed, they could only be used for slush-type products.
The demand for non-dairy products has increased over the past ten years, to the point where now, almost all manufacturers of dispensing freezers have models available, specifically for the production of Italian Ice, frozen orange juice, frozen carbonated beverages, etc.
Classification of Ice Cream
The types of dairy products that can be made and served directly from dispensing freezers are endless. There are literally hundreds of formulas for ice cream mixes, ranging from plain vanilla to parfait (an extremely rich mix, high in butterfat content and also containing fresh eggs). In addition, there are mixes for custard, sherberts, sorbets, frappes, souffles and milkshakes. All of these products can be made in the standard soft ice cream or milkshake dispensing freezer.
In the development of mixes for products to be used and served directly from the freezer and eaten in the higher temperature ranges, it was recognized that the same taste, flavor, sweetness and richness could be obtained by using smaller quantities of these ingredients. As a matter of fact, smaller quantities were necessary to prevent the finished product from being too rich or sweet. However, because of these regulations concerning minimum quantities of butterfat for ice cream, the finished product cannot legally be called ice cream unless it contains minimum percentages of butterfat as shown for that State. Technically, it would be referred to as "Ice Milk".
The soft-serve industry is gradually discontinuing the use of the term "Ice Milk" because it is not a good descriptive phrase for the product. Also, this term has resulted in the formation of general opinion that "Ice Milk" or soft-serve is an inferior product to ice cream. However, they are both a complete food because they are composed of a mixture of fat, protein, carbohydrate, minerals and vitamins, but actually "Ice Milk" (soft-serve) is superior as a food because it contains lesser quantities of fat and sugar than does ice cream and high quantities of milk solids non-fat which are almost pure protein. Because "Ice Milk" is not a good descriptive term for this low-fat product, it is now common practice to refer to any semi-frozen dairy product regardless of its fat content, served fresh from the freezer, as "soft ice cream" or just "soft serve".
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