ice cream, sweet frozen dessert, made from milk fat and solids, sugar, flavoring, a stabilizer (usually gelatin), and sometimes eggs, fruits, or nuts. The mix is churned at freezing temperature to attain a light, smooth texture. Water ices existed in the Roman Empire, and Marco Polo brought back from East Asia reports of iced, flavored foods. From Italy the confection spread to France and England, reaching America early in the 18th cent. Ice cream sundaes had become popular by the 1890s, and the ice cream cone was introduced in 1904. The manufacture of ice cream in the United States on a commercial scale began in 1851 in Baltimore and has become an important industry. Commercial ice cream is pasteurized and homogenized. Federal, state, local, and industry regulations as to percentage of milk fats and solids, purity of ingredients, and cleanliness of preparation and dispensing are designed to maintain the dietary value of ice cream and to inhibit bacterial multiplication, for which ice cream is a favorable medium. Similar frozen confections include the fat-rich bisque (with added bakery products), parfait (containing eggs), and mousse; frozen custard, generally low in fat; frozen yogurt, also low in fat; and ices and plain or milk sherbets, based on fruit juices and sugar.

Bibliography

See V. Cobb, The Scoop on Ice Cream (1985); W. S. Arbuckle, Ice Cream (1986).

ice cream

Frozen dairy food. Ice cream is made from cream or butterfat, milk, sugar, and flavourings. Fruit ices (nondairy frozen desserts) were introduced into Europe from the East sometime after being first described by Marco Polo in his journals. Creation of the first true cream ice is credited to a Parisian café owner named Tortoni in the late 18th century. The ice-cream cone originated at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Mo., U.S. Commercial ice cream is made by heating and blending its ingredients to form a mix, which is then pasteurized and homogenized. The mix is ripened for several hours and then agitated while being frozen to incorporate air; the highest-quality ice creams incorporate the least air. Ice cream is now available in hundreds, if not thousands, of flavours.