Rédey Judit: Hideg nyalat és spanyol tekercs. A fagylalt, a jégkrém és a parfé története (Budapest, 2007)

Marco Polo, the famous Italian traveler relates in his travelogue trom A.D. 1298 that the Chinese had already known an early version of ice cream five thousand years before. They sweetened fruit juices with honey, and then froze the mixture using snow or ice. It could be a legend, however, that Marco Polo - following several years of travels - brought Chinese ice cream recipes back to his homeland. (Italians have indeed been playing a significant role in the history of ice cream, from the Middle Ages up to the present day.) One of the great characters of Han dynasty philosophy, Wang Chung gives us an account of how ice was broken up in wintertime to prepare the „ice chambers" (ping shi). As it was already sung in the Shi Jing (the Book of Songs): In the days of (our) second month, they hew out the ice with harmonious blows; And in those of (our) third month, they convey it to the ice-houses.

.. 1 Another poem goes like this: Sip some good tartar of bamboo wine, chilled with ice: A cooling drink, full ojpleasure! Cups are lined up in a row, satisfying, some full of spirits, some are sweet; Return, 0 Soul, to our company!

2 In Japan, the Ice Festival has been traditional since centuries, usually held on the first day of June. The Emperor awards medals on this occasion, each one accompanied by a piece of ice. Legend has it that the wise ruler King Solomon (in the first millennium B.C.) was known to slurp snow slush mixed with honey and fruit pulp. The ancient Greek poet Simonides (556-468 B. C.) addressed his friends as follows in one of his poems: ". ..pour my goblet full with Olympian snow which covers the Pyrean landscape in beauty..." Cold sweets were reckoned not only as a special delicacy but also as medicine. Hyppocrates, the famous physician - who held that health depends upon the right proportion of the four humors of the body explicitly recommended the use of the frozen dainties in 400 B.C. As he put it, "it fills the bodily humors with life, and elevates the spirits." At the same time, he cautioned against exorbitant use of cold drinks. Chronicles record that Alexander the Great had a refreshment served, mixed of fresh snow, fruit juice and wine to his officers before battles. During his campaign to India (327-326 B.C.), when besieging the city of Petra, he had thirty ice chambers dug, covered with leafy fronds. The snow had been carried down from the