old ice

[cucumbers]

My dear aging mother has been wondering recently how people used to produce ice prior to the invention of freezers and similar machines. we know that ice was imported and distributed on a large scale but her interest lies with the manufacture of ice cream , especially in the warmer parts of Italy , where it is famously from, as you must need a constant low temperature in order to produce it. Help me please.

[woofgang]

They didn't. Ice used to be harvested in the winter and stored in insulated ice houses. I believe that ships used to go and collect bit of iceberg ang bring it to europe to sell. There's a poem about a man watching an ice seller from the window of his hot office and imagining himself being ehre the ice came from. It starts "perched on my city office stool, I watch with envy while a cool and luck carter handles ice... can't remember the author though

[Cetti]

Your Mum might find this interesting as well - the rest is in the link:

Freezing of foods was achieved by mixing salt with ice. Mixing salt with ice reduces the freezing point and it is quite easy to achieve temperatures lower than -14�C. Just who discovered the process is unknown but it was probably invented by the Chinese. It was written about in India in the 4th century, and the first technical description of ice making using various salts was by an Arab medical historian Ibn Abu Usaybi (A.D. 1230-1270).

But the process did not arrive in Europe until 1503, in Italy. It was considered a chemists party trick, using various acids, water and salts. However it was not used for food until water ices (sorbets) appeared in the 1660's in Naples, Florence, Paris and Spain. Later in 1664 ices made with sweetened milk first appeared in Naples.

http://www.ice-cream.org/school/history.htm

[cucumbers]

thanks you two . Will show her your answers on Sunday . much appreciated.

[sddsddean]

Out of interest, I used to live between Mottingham and Eltham in SE London. There is a park there called The Tarn (as there is a small lake there). It has an Ice well, a brick pit about 30 feet deep, 15 feet diameter, with a domed roof that was bricked up every winter after being filled with ice from the lake. It was built in the 1750's for use of the residents of Eltham Lodge, which is now the clubhouse of The Royal Blackheath Golf Club.

[yujiao522]

Cetti
Your Mum might find this interesting as well - the rest is in the link:

Freezing of foods was achieved by mixing salt with ice. Mixing salt with ice reduces the freezing point and it is quite easy to achieve temperatures lower than -14�C. Just who discovered the process is unknown but it was probably invented by the Chinese.
http://www.uggbootsal...ssic-short-boots.html

[yujiao522]

Out of interest, I used to live between Mottingham and Eltham in SE London. There is a park there called The Tarn (as there is a small lake there).
http://www.uggbootsal...ssic-short-boots.html