Ice cream means summer to us. We literally count the season by how many weeks the ice cream shops are open! This favorite confection was once limited to the elite. Currently the price of a cone from an ice cream shop is running around $5 per cone, which does start to crimp the budget if we are eating it almost daily (which Alan does through the season). Thankfully I can find ice cream on sale pretty regularly for about $2.50 per half gallon, which can sustain him for a week, so he never feels deprived.
Ice cream hasn’t always been so readily available. The origins of ice cream are debatable, Romans and Chinese Royalty are both referenced. Imagine that the earliest version of this treat would have some poor soul being sent off on an expedition to travel through the desert then climb the highest mountains to collect glacial ice, which was sweetened by fruits! It is not hard to imagine then that this treat was limited to royalty.
It would take until the 1700’s before being brought to the United States. American Colonists would be the first to call it “Iced Cream”, which would later be shortened to the phrase we know today. With the introduction of mechanical refrigeration sometime around 1897 the product could be sold in a commercial setting. It would take another 7 years before the ice cream cone would debut at the St. Louis World Fair, finally making the treat portable.
Today there are so many flavors to choose from. We could probably spend hours at an ice cream counter trying to figure out what we want…hard or soft, what flavor, toppings or not, cake cone, sugar cone or cup. The options are endless.
One thing is for certain, with an ice cream shop in nearly every town we visit, we never deprive ourselves of this sweet treat. Life is simply too short to miss an opportunity for these tiny blissful moments. Even though ice cream is easily accessible these days, there is still associated with special occasions and if living itself isn’t reason to celebrate, then I don’t know what is…eat the ice cream and imagine yourself a royal!