Ice Cream Desserts The United States produces 1.6 billion gallons of ice cream desserts annually and exports about 40 million of those gallons to other countries, especially Japan. Americans have done everything imaginable with ice cream but the one thing they didn’t do was invent it. So who did? No one knows for sure. Like most Americans, ice cream was an immigrant to our shores. And, like most immigrants, it sure has changed a lot after arriving. With the rise of factories in the 1800s, ice cream desserts became a mass-produced treat. By 1900, it became affordable for almost anyone. Jacob Fussell opened America’s first ice cream factories. “More than anyone else,” says one history book, he “was responsible for starting the Americans’ love affair with ice cream.” Ice Cream Sodas , became popular during the 1800s Sweet syrups flavored the soda. Who thought of adding ice cream? That’s a mystery. Depending on whom you believe, it happened in New York, Philadelphia or Detroit. Going out for ice cream sodas was a favorite activity in the 1950s The sundae is probably named for the first day of the week. A popular story is that many places once banned selling sodas on Sunday. In response, a crafty merchant put just ice cream and syrup into a dish. The gooey result was a hit. Christian Nelson a Danish immigrant sold candy in Iowa. One spring afternoon, a young customer wanted some chocolate but then he changed his mind. What he really wanted was ice cream. That gave Nelson an idea he created the small brick of ice cream coated with chocolate. Nelson then placed his creation on a stick, just as factories do today. Thomas Carvelas, a Greek American, began selling ice cream in New York State. He used his profits to invent a freezer that could produce soft “Carvel” ice cream Carvelas then paired his invention with a favorite American machine, the automobile. Carefully placing shops along highways, Carvel built an ice cream empire. The Lemon Ice King of Corona, a temple to the Italian ice, has helped to cool the neighborhood for the last 68 years. Thirty-one flavors? Try daily-changing menus at places such as Tara’s, Ici and Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous Yes, Ice cream now comes with a scoop of imagination, as small artisanal shops continue to open and flourish in the Bay Area. The newest, Smitten, has gone so far as to use liquid nitrogen to freeze its made-to-order scoops in 60 seconds flat. But is the new guard necessarily better than the old? That’s the question The Chronicle’s Food & Wine staff set out to answer with their expanded Taster’s Choice column. Using chocolate as their yardstick, they also compared each shop’s best-seller, as deemed by a store worker, and a wild card – a flavor that was either seasonal or sounded just plain good. What they ended up with – aside from 15 versions of chocolate, of course – included a host of strawberries, a few peaches and several herb-themed flavors like the above-mentioned Honey Thyme. Not only did the San Francisco stalwart have the best chocolate of the bunch, it also had the highest average score of all the ice cream shops they compared. Mr. and Mrs Miscellaneous who placed second. melts three kinds of dark chocolate to help achieve its creamy texture. melts three kinds of dark chocolate to help achieve its creamy texture. Rick’s Rather Rich ice cream also scored well with its “boozy” and “coffee”-hinted chocolate and Salted Caramel ice creams So the next time you’re at the local ice cream shop, try a new flavor. There’s no shortage of good scoops to choose from. Eating of ice cream is a singular pleasure. It’s an existential one-on-one relationship, that is close to a relationship with God. You don’t have any doubts that He exists when you’re eating a chocolate ice cream cone, or She exists, maybe She’s just a big ice cream dessert maker in the sky.”
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