[Sca-cooks] Re: Period Ices/Sorbets/Cold Treats?

[Elise Fleming]

Magdalena wrote:
<< I have read, and would *love* to get this confirmed, that the
Italians
 would drag ice down from the mountains, chip it and serve it on the
 street with fruit juice.  Basically a period Sno-Kone.  Does anyone
here
 know if there is any truth to this?  'Twould be way cool if there
is...
 pun intended :)

And Finnebhir answered:>>

>Actually we've discussed this not that long ago. But yes they did,
and did
>also make granita and sorbetti con crema, and possibly gelato as
well. I
>can't remember what the reference that I cited was though.

But... prior to 1600?  I sure would trust Elizabeth David's
scholarship over a culinary magazine, for example.  Or over the
beliefs of the Ice Cream Council.  Last Sunday our local newspaper
printed an "authoritative" timeline.  It states:
1200: Flavored water ices were known in Asia for centuries. Venetian
adventurer Marco Polo brings back to Italy recipes for making these
treats.
1600: Early colonists bring ice cream recipes to America.

Their sources include Dreyers web site, an ice cream magazine,
International Dairy Foods Association, etc.  That 1600 assertion
that colonists bring recipes starts warning sirens in my head.  I
have not seen any references to ice cream prior to 1600 and you
can't tell me that the colonists just happened to have some
confectioner's secret recipe.  Elizabeth David makes  frequent
references to words that look like modern words but had a different
meaning in an earlier time.  Specifically, the Turkish sorbet.
Anyone else out there up to reading this book?  Finnebhir??

Alys Katharine