We all know and love ice cream! Who hasn’t treated themself to a cold, delicious, and creamy scoop of this delectable dessert on a hot day? If you’re a true ice cream fanatic, you’re likely eating ice cream all year round. There are even holiday flavors available on the market, after all.

But have you ever stopped to think about where this delicious treat came from? At the most basic level, your typical scoop of ice cream comes from an ice cream shop, the frozen aisle of your local grocery store, or from your very own kitchen if you’ve decided to go the homemade route. But ice cream has a much longer and complex history than the simple journey from ingredients to frozen dessert.

An Ancient Treat

While the exact origins of ice cream are a little murky, there’s little debate that some variation of this dessert has been around for centuries. Ice cream is thought to date back as far as the second century B.C.E, which would make it thousands of years old! The reason historians know that the origins of ice cream date back at least this far is because of several historical references to treats similar to ice cream. Some ancient documents reference that Alexander the Great enjoyed snow or shaved ice flavored with honey. Similarly, there are Biblical references to King Solomon in the old testament enjoying iced drinks during the long hot days of the harvest. We also know that during the reign of the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar often sent servants into the mountains for snow so he could mix it with fruit or juices and consume the icy mixture.

One of the prevailing myths about the origins of the ice cream we know and love today centers around the famous explorer and world traveler Marco Polo. Marco Polo is said to have traveled to the far east and brought a recipe back with him that was similar to what we now call sherbet, and this ancient sherbet recipe eventually evolved into a recipe more similar to modern ice cream sometime in the sixteenth century.

During the same time Marco Polo brought his recipe for sherbet over to Italy, a similar recipe is believed to have developed in England. Some historians even believe England developed a recipe similar to what we now know as ice cream before Marco Polo’s fateful journey east and back. In England, there was a dessert called cream ice that is thought to have been a regular (and delectable) staple in Charles I’s court during the seventeenth century. 

Similarly, there are historical reports of the development of a French dessert in the same vein as ice cream as early as 1553. The French version of this dessert is thought to have been brought to France by Catherine de Medici when she married Henry II of France.

Despite all of these indicators that some sort of early ice cream had made its way to Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the treat was initially only available to royalty and aristocracy. An ice cream recipe for the general public wasn’t made available until the mid-to-late seventeenth century when a recipe blending milk, cream, butter, and eggs was served at Café Procope, the first café in Paris.

Ice Cream in America

While ice cream quickly became popular in Europe, it took some time to arrive in America. It started with diplomats and politicians in America, much like the treat spread in popularity amongst the aristocracy in Europe. The first known record of an ice-cream-type dessert being served in America was in a letter written by someone who was a guest of the Governor of Maryland, William Bladen, in 1744. Bladen reportedly served ice cream to his guests at a dinner party.

Many years later, there is a record of an ice cream advertisement in the New York Gazette from Philip Lenzi, a confectioner who sold ice cream and other treats, advertising in 1777 that his shop had ice cream available and ready to purchase almost every day.

President George Washington, President Thomas Jefferson, and President James Madison were all thought to have been ice cream fans, too. There are records from a New York merchant that George Washington spent quite the pretty penny on ice cream in the summer of 1790. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson was reportedly fond of a particular ice cream recipe that is most comparable to the modern-day treat Baked Alaska. You can even view a recipe for vanilla ice cream preserved from Jefferson’s home, Monticello, through the Library of Congress. Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, is reported to have served a strawberry ice cream dessert at President Madison’s second inauguration at the White House.

A Treat for Everyone

For decades, ice cream continued to be a more luxurious treat than many could afford. Acquiring the ingredients needed for the treat, including enough ice cold to freeze the ice cream in pre-refrigeration days, was costly and time-consuming. By 1800, however, insulated ice houses were invented and manufacturing ice cream at a more mass level became possible. As technology developed and innovation reigned supreme across the board in all sorts of industries, ice cream production began to increase to eventually become what we know today. These days, ice cream is produced in breathtaking quantities. Frozen dairy production in the United States yields more than 6 billion pounds of frozen treats!

When you pick up your favorite ice cream flavor from the store or get the first lick of your favorite scoop from your local ice cream truck like Besties Ice Cream, you’re probably so consumed with pure joy that you don’t think about the innovations that came before to get you that delectable dessert. Whether recipes resembling our modern ice cream flavors were first developed in Italy or England, or in an entirely different area of the globe altogether, there’s no doubt that ice cream has become a staple American classic. Now go get yourself a scoop—we know you’ve been thinking about it since you started reading!