h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Made icecream in ancient times.
How?
Simple. salt iced/water. reduced freezing temperature, thus made water colder than 0 degrees C. Ice cream can be made. C'est voila.




World record holder: find out. about 22 seconds using liquid nitrogen. I've had it, quite scrumchous!

In 200 BC, Ice Cream is said to be invented by the Chinese. They mixed ice cream with milk and rice to give it flavor.

In the 1st Century AD, Emperor Nero Claudius of the Roman Empire sent his slaves to the mountains to gather snow, which he later mixed with nuts, honey, fruits, and other delicassies.

When Marco Polo returned from China and Mongolia, he brought back with him a recipe for sherbert. Although Marco Polo became imprisoned for the tales he told about the Far East, because it was thought that he was lying, his dessert became popular among the rich. The Italian Royal Chefs kept the recipe secret from the public.

Ice Cream swept through the world, and in the 1600's, was introduced to the American Colonies.
The first record of ice cream in this new world was written by a guest of William Blayden, the governor of Maryland in 1700. In 1776, the first ice cream parlor opened in the United States of America.

Even Beethoven wrote about how much he loved ice cream in 1794. Presidents Jefferson and Washignton were known to favor the treat as well.

In 1800, an insulated ice house was invented, making storage of ice cream much easier. The hand crank, making the creation of ice cream easier, was invented by Nancy Johnson, circa 1845.

In 1851, Jacob Fussell opened the first ice cream plant in the nation, whereas beforeit had been confined to the making of restaruant and personal cooks. This made ice cream available to the general public.

In 1904, the legendary ice cream cone was invented at the St. Louis' World Fair, at the Louisiana Purchase Expedition.

In 1921 all the immigrants o Ellis Island were invited to have ice cream after their meals by the commissioner.

Ice cream parlors didn't open up until the early 1930's, marking the time when ice cream became as world-reknowned as it is now.

In 1921, the comissioner of Ellis Island made the decision to treat all incoming immigrants to a taste of something truly American, by serving them ice cream as part of their first meal.
In 1943, Brigham's ice cream parlours offered three flavors of ice cream--vanilla, chocolate, and coffee--and sold hot fudge sundaes for 20-cents, or 25-cents with nuts.
On August 7, 1977, Dennett D'Angelo set a world record for eating 3 pounds, 6 ounces of ice cream in 90 seconds.
New Englanders enjoy a hearty 39 pints of ice cream annually, or about 14 pints more per year than the average American.
The United States is the ice cream capital of the world, with US citizens spooning on average nearly 23 quarts per year.
Vanilla and Chocolate flavor ice creams are the top two flavors Americans crave-- with the fastest growing flavor nationally being coffee/mocha, with sales up 15% since 1996.*
One out of every five ice cream eaters share their ice cream with their dog or cat.*
Vanilla is the #1 ice cream flavor in the United States, equalling about 20% of the nation's total ice cream sales. In New England, consumption of vanilla ice cream is even higher, accounting for 25% of total ice cream sales.

Peter Barham

perfect ice cream formula - 871H<->2O + 16C<->12H<->22O<->11 + 7C<->39H<->76O<->6 at 0C +N<->2 at minus 196C. -liquid nitrogen

Dr Barham's ice-cream recipe, based on an idea by Agnes Marshall, the Victorian cook and ice-cream maker. A great dinner party trick, but only for scientists with access to liquid nitrogen.

1 Make a liquid ice cream mixture with half a pint of milk, three ounces of sugar and half a pint of cream.

2 Add desired flavouring - vanilla, chocolate, or nuts, Dr Barham's favourite, eggs and bacon.

3 Place in a metal bowl and pour in a pint of liquid nitrogen. As the chemical, at a temperature of -196C (-321F), hits the ice cream mixture, it will begin to boil.

4 Don't panic: this process is the key to freezing the ice-cream. As the boiling continues, the liquid nitrogen extracts heat from the mixture, cooling it down, and allowing ice crystals to form. Most of the nitrogen is used in this process, but some is trapped in the ice-cream mixture and creates the light texture by adding air. When all is absorbed, the ice-cream should be at.-4C.

5 Pour cream over to increase richness, or crumble over a chocolate flake.

ya!