We All Scream For Ice Cream (And Its Relatives)

About author / Lauren Braun Costello

The competent cook; food stylist; cooking instructor; graduate French Culinary Institute. To die for dish? Maple glazed bacon wrapped roast turkey. Yep, bacon wrapped.

It just doesn’t seem like summer without a giant ice cream in hand on a sunny afternoon. Even those who cry lactose intolerance have trouble resisting this iced confection. Creamy, smooth and sweet, ice cream is so simply satisfying. But the canon of ice cream is far deeper than just milk, cream and sugar.

The Ice Ages
There is much debate over the origin of ice cream, or of iced confections in general. Some credit the Romans with the invention, while others point to the Chinese. Those who prefer a happy compromise give credit to both, claiming that the Chinese may have invented ice cream but Marco Polo brought the practice back to Europe. Using recorded history as the truest measure available, Nero, the Roman Emperor, served his guests crushed fruit mixed with honey and snow as early as the first century. However, the first working ice cream machine is attributed to the Tang Dynasty in seventh-century China.

“[The Chinese] poured a mixture of snow and saltpeter over the exteriors or containers filled with syrup, for in the same way as salt raises the boiling-point of water, it lowers the freezing-point to below zero,” explains the revered food historian, Toussaint-Samat. This is not so surprising, given that the Chinese were among the first to discover that blocks of ice could be stored underground.

Iced treats were reserved for kings and their courts for centuries in both Asia and Europe. Expensive and labor-intensive, iced cream and fruits were not enjoyed by the masses until the end of the eighteenth century in both France and the United States. A century later, “soda fountains” would become fixtures in America’s popular culture, making ice cream an everyday delicacy.

It’s All in a Name
What is the difference between sorbet and sherbet? And where do those names come from in the first place? Well, sorbet is borrowed from sorbetto, which comes from the Turkish word chorbet derived from the Arabic sharab, meaning fruit drink. This is how we get the word sherbet, which comes directly from “syrup.” And does ice cream have to have cream as an ingredient? Yes! Otherwise it is “ice milk” or “frozen yogurt.” Ah, so much to know!

Sorbet – a water-based ice that does not contain any dairy whatsoever. Generally light and refreshing, sorbets are a smooth mixture of water, sugar and some flavoring (most often fruit).

Sherbet – similar to sorbet, though they also contain milk or cream.

Granita – derived from the Italian word grana (grainy), this is an ice with a grainy, rough texture. Less sweet and more watery than sorbet, granitas are a combination of simple syrup and water, plus a flavor element, such as coffee. Granitas usually have a crumbled texture as they are frozen in shallow pans and stirred occasionally.

French (Custard-Based) Ice Cream – this is the most rich and smooth ice cream, with a characteristically high ratio of cream to milk and eggs. The base of this ice cream is a cooked liquid custard, or crème anglaise. The product is then churned (unlike granita that is frozen still).

American Ice Cream – also known as Philadelphia-style ice cream, this version is classically made without eggs. American ice cream is milk, cream and sugar combined with a flavoring. Since the mixture is without eggs and thus uncooked before being churned, it is somewhat less smooth than a custard-based ice cream.

Gelato – this is an Italian-style ice cream with less air than its counterparts, making it by far the most dense.

Spoom – rare to Americans but a delicious and frothy sorbet to which Italian meringue (egg whites beaten with hot syrup) is added.