From a new Internet celebrity model of more than ten yuan and twenty yuan to a cross-border joint model of fifty or sixty yuan, recently, "ice cream that sells more and more expensive" has become a hot topic on social media.
In fact, in human history, ice cream or ice cream has been a "luxury" for a long time. So, what was the ice cream of ancient times like? What is its price? How did it become a mass consumer product?
Chang'an ice and snow, summer prices and other gold bi
Chinese has a very long history of hiding ice, and during the Zhou Dynasty, a special position in charge of "ice" was set up, mainly for sacrifice and cooling. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the use of ice became more extensive, and according to the Chu Ci Summoning Souls, the princes of that time liked to drink iced rice wine at banquets.
In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, "cheese drinks" made of dairy products such as cattle, sheep, and horses began to become popular as a cold drink in summer. This cold drink was further developed in the Tang Dynasty, and a frozen dairy pastry called "Crispy Mountain" was born.
"Crispy Mountain" is regarded by many as the prototype of ice cream, which is mainly made of goat milk, flour added to the fermented milk of cow' milk, and camphor. But some historians believe that this frozen pastry is not the same as today's ice cream, it is more like an ice dessert.
However, in the Tang Dynasty, there were also merchants on Chang'an Avenue who specialized in the trading of "Bingling". At this time, people have made "popsicles", by putting ice in large wooden barrels, and sprinkling salt to reduce the melting point of ice, arranging small boxes containing sucrose water in barrels, inserting small wooden sticks, and the sugar water is frozen into popsicles.
However, Feng Zhen of the Tang Dynasty wrote in the "Miscellaneous Records of Yunxian": "Chang'an ice and snow, in the summer, the price is equal to gold bi." Du Fu also sighed that "the prince mixes ice water, and the beautiful snow lotus silk." It can be seen that at that time, ice and snow were not affordable for everyone.
During the Song Dynasty, eating ice was one of the job benefits of officials. The Song Shi Lizhi stipulates that officials who have reached a certain level will be rewarded with "honey sand ice" on the day of Furi. It is speculated that "honey sand ice" is ice poured with honey and bean paste, that is, shaved ice. At that time, there was also a kind of "lactose true snow", that is, sprinkling condensed milk on top of crushed ice, which was very sweet.
During this period, due to the rise of private ice storage, ice drinking gradually entered thousands of households. People often mix juice, milk, chrysanthemum, ice cubes and other mixtures into frozen drinks, named ice cheese. The poet Yang Wanli once vividly described the appearance of ice cheese in "Wing Ice Cheese": "It seems to be greasy and cool, like condensation and like floating." The bottom of the corn pan crumbled, and the snow melted toward the sun. ”
In the Yuan Dynasty, "milk ice" appeared, that is, jam and milk mixed into a coagulated smoothie, this milk ice is soft and loose, melting in the mouth. However, during Kublai Khan's reign, in order to keep the secrets of the production process, an edict was issued that "ice cream is prohibited except for the royal family", so this delicacy can only appear at court banquets.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the prototype of snowflake cheese appeared in Beijing, which is equivalent to today's shaved ice, smoothies and so on. However, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the government had a strict system for storing ice and issuing ice. In the Qing Dynasty, you had to eat ice with a ticket, and the number of ice tickets was also strictly regulated.
From luxury goods to mass consumer goods
In modern Europe, Italy and France have been pioneers of frozen desserts. However, at that time, due to the technical limitations of ice making and ice storage, the high price of sugar and spices, and the fact that the production was all by hand, the cost of ice cream was very high. Until the 19th century, ice cream was a luxury consumed by royalty and aristocrats.
Later, with the discovery of the New World, the ice cream technology of Europeans also reached the Americas. Ice cream is popular in the United States and has become a must-have dessert for Patriotic Day. George Washington, the first president of the United States, was obsessed with ice cream when he lived in New York, and spent about $200 to eat ice cream in the summer of 1790.
In 1846, the American Nancy Johnson invented the first hand-cranked ice cream machine, which greatly improved the speed of stirring ice cream mixtures, thus opening the era of large-scale production of ice cream, making ice cream from an expensive luxury to a mass consumer product.
During the American Civil War, the invention of the cold drinking cabinet ushered in the true golden age of ice cream. At the same time, "cone ice cream" and "popsicles" were born. It has made the United States a veritable country of ice cream.
In 1904, the prototype of cone ice cream made its debut at the World's Fair in Missouri, USA. Expo visitors love food that can be eaten while walking, which provides a great opportunity for it, but interestingly, until the cone is patented, no one knows who exactly merged waffles with ice cream.
In 1922, Nelson developed a new product wrapped in chocolate on top of ice cream. Later, Henry Jr., a small producer from Ohio, inserted a stick into the ice brick of the chocolate so that the ice cream would not stick to his hand when it melted, and the modern popsicle was born.
Later, with the production of large-scale machines and the invention of refrigeration equipment, by 1975, it was only 11 cents in Philadelphia, USA, to have a box of ice cream.
Shanghai ice cream, dating back a hundred years
In the late Qing Dynasty, ice cream was introduced to China as a dessert for Western food. Tianjin Cheese forest and Li Shunde's ice cream are both signature spots, mainly supplied to foreign students and intellectuals.
Ice cream appeared early in Shanghai. In the "Declaration" of July 9, 1910, there were reports related to the term "ice cream". On August 4, 1916, the "Declaration" also published an advertisement for Sullivan Foreign Firm to open an ice drinking room to provide summer food such as "ice cream".
The earliest production of popsicles in Shanghai was in 1924. Produced and sold by returned overseas Chinese in Japan near the "Mud City Bridge", it is handmade, the product is cylindrical, seven or eight inches long, there are flavors such as orange, lemon, bayberry, etc., and the price is five copper plates per piece, which is about the same as the price of five flatbreads at that time.
In 1925, Haining Foreign Company (the predecessor of the current Shanghai Yimin Food Factory) introduced refrigeration equipment from the United States, and began to produce "beauty brand" popsicles the following year, with a daily output of 2,000 to 3,000 sticks. By 1932, beauty ice cream and ice cream occupied almost the entire cold drink market in Shanghai.
At that time, the ice cream production process also changed, from cylindrical to trapezoidal shapes, and was mass-manufactured using brine freezing cylinders. In terms of taste, not only the varieties with local characteristics such as red beans and mung beans have been added, but also varieties with international flavors such as cream and cocoa, at that time, the beauty brand large and medium-sized Xiaoice bricks, purple ice cream wrapped chocolate crisps and so on have appeared.
Early ice cream in Shanghai did not have wrapping paper and was placed directly in the box. It was not until 1932 that Haining began to produce ice cream with wrapping paper, and this form gradually became popular, and the style was very close to today's popsicles. According to an advertisement image published in the media, it can be seen that the ice cream at that time was called "ice ripple", which was a bowl and sold for between 1 and 3 corners. At that time, Shanghai also had a large number of summer places called "ice drinking rooms", which were fashionable places for people.
After the founding of New China, the frozen beverage industry in the mainland has developed rapidly, and factories or workshops have been built and expanded in major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, etc., and their processes, equipment and management have become increasingly perfect, and ice cream has also entered thousands of households. Xiao Yawen
Source: Liberation Daily