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

[johnna holloway]

Johnnae sends greetings.

I have a better ice cream fable than that. The USDA (yes, the federal
government) put out their ag yearbook back in the 1970's as a children's
volume on food and nutrition.  It included, a feast in a castle of 900
years ago where you would have been served coffee, tea and for dessert
ice cream. Well, I called the local congressman and bitched to his staff
about it and was told "well, you know it's meant for children." I have
used it throughout the years as an example of not believing everything
you
read about food. When doing these sessions in classrooms or in
libraries,
 We usually have a really good laugh about "well, maybe
after the dinner the good lord and master took everyone down to Ye OLDE
31 Flavours in the village for a cone." But I do set them straight. I
have
found that most schoolchildren anyway just love to find out that adults
and especially the government don't know everything.

Johnna Holloway



Elise Fleming wrote:
>
> 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
>
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