Back in 54 B.C., Romans kept ice in ice houses covered with straw to ensure it stayed cold. However, the first recorded instance of anything resembling modern-day ice cream may be during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, which ran from 618 to 907 A.D.
Chinese nobles, looking for a milk-based treat to enjoy during the summer, made milk ice with snow from the mountains and a rice milk paste that was normally used to make warm rice pudding.
Emperor Tang tried the creation and liked it so much that he ordered 94 men to make him an advanced version with buffalo milk, flour, and camphor — these subjects have been dubbed Emperor Tang's "ice men."
Ancient Chinese people also experimented with adding fruit juices and honey to snow, which produced something closer to snow cones than today's ice cream.
The Chinese didn't get to gatekeep their early ice cream creations for too long, however, as Marco Polo is said to have brought the snowy milk mixture back to Italy with him, where it became an exclusive treat for the wealthy.
Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. Biblical references also show that King Solomon was fond of iced drinks during harvesting. During the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86) frequently sent runners into the mountains for snow, which was then flavored with fruits and juices.
England seems to have discovered ice cream at the same time, or perhaps even earlier than the Italians. "Cream Ice," as it was called, appeared regularly at the table of Charles I during the 17th century. France was introduced to similar frozen desserts in 1553 by the Italian Catherine de Medici when she became the wife of Henry II of France.
It wasn't until 1660 that ice cream was made available to the general public. The Sicilian Procopio introduced a recipe blending milk, cream, butter and eggs at Café Procope, the first café in Paris.
The first official account of ice cream in the New World comes from a letter written in 1744 by a guest of Maryland Governor William Bladen. The first advertisement for ice cream in this country appeared in the New York Gazette on May 12, 1777, when confectioner Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was available "almost every day."
Manufacturing ice cream soon became an industry in America, pioneered in 1851 by a Baltimore milk dealer named Jacob Fussell. Like other American industries, ice cream production increased because of technological innovations.
In 1874, the American soda fountain shop and the profession of the "soda jerk" emerged with the invention of the ice cream soda. In response to religious criticism for eating "sinfully" rich ice cream sodas on Sundays, ice cream merchants left out the carbonated water and invented the ice cream "Sunday" in the late 1890's. The name was eventually changed to "sundae" to remove any connection with the Sabbath.
Ice cream became an edible morale symbol during World War II. Each branch of the military tried to outdo the others in serving ice cream to its troops. In 1945, the first "floating ice cream parlor" was built for sailors in the western Pacific. When the war ended, and dairy product rationing was lifted, America celebrated its victory with ice cream.