Well, the earliest evidence is around 3000 years ago, when the Emperors of China were said to be indulging themselves in frozen delicacies made from snow and ice flavored with fruit, wine and honey.

It was not until later that the treat was first recorded in Europe. It is said that the Chinese taught Arab traders how to combine syrups and snow, which translates into an early version of the sorbetto. Arab traders then showed Venetians and Romans how to make this new found frozen delicacy.

In the 4^th century B.C., Alecander the Great is said to have been fond of iced beverages. And, in 62 A.D., the Roman Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar is recorded to have sent fleets of slaves to the Apennine mountain to collect snow and ice to be flavored with nectar, fruit pulp, and honey.

The earliest recorded evidence of anything close to resembling ice cream comes from the Tang period in China (A.D. 618-907). Buffalo, cow and giat milk was heated along with grounded rice and allowed to ferment. Flour was then added for thickening and camphor, a strong smelling white substance used today in making medicine and in making plastics, was used for flavoring. King Tang of Shang had 94 icemen on his staff that took care of his duty. This is the first account of dairy being used in this frozen dessert.

But the frozen delicacy was not well known until the 16^th Century, when Catherine de Medici of Florence took her cooks and sorbetto recipes with her when she married Henry II and became Queen of France. In the 17^th Century, Charles I of England is then thought to have purchase the formula for “frozen milk” from a French chef. As they spread through the royal houses of Europe, eggs and cream also began to be added, and the frozen delicacies came to be known as “cream ices”. The development of custard around the same time was a great addition thrown into the “cream ices”.

The “cream ices” were considered a delicacy for the upper class until it could be produced by the population at large. This took developments in the freezing of foods and manufacturing to aid in its widespread fame. Previously ice cream had to be eaten within a few hours of it being made as it required too much ice to keep it frozen.

The 19^th Century brought the introduction of the ice cream machine in 1843 in both England and America, which simplified ice cream manufacturing. The successful development of flavored ices on a commercial basis is partly due to the invention of the edible cone. In New Jersey an Italian named Marchionni wrapped a piece of pasta into a cone as a vehicle for ice cream. The American claim the invention as their own. It made its first public appearance at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.