The Chinese began milking domesticated animals around the year 2000 B.C. Drinking milk was a symbol of wealth. They made a soft paste of rice and milk and froze it on platters——a predecessor to ice cream.
Ice cream, as we know it now, was not manufactured in the United States until 1852. Martin Elkort in his book, The Secret Life of Food: A Feast of Food and Drink, History, Folklore and Fact, states, “Upon arrival at Ellis Island in 1921, immigrants were given ice cream, a food, by then, typical of America, according to the superintendent of the island. Puzzled, many of them spread this frozen mixture on bread before eating it.”
Different countries have altered ice cream flavors to suit their own food culture. “Helado,”Spanish for ice cream, demonstrates the region’s abundant spices, chilis and fruits. An example is the Lucas Pelucas Company which blends tamarind fruit with chili powder.
In India, ice cream is called kulfi and made from almond milk flavored with cardamom and rose water. Using condensed milk and cream makes for a quicker process.
In the Near and Middle East, Iranians like their ice cream flavored with salep, an extract from a tuber which has been boiled. The Turkish like salep as well as mastic, a resin from certain pistachio trees, in their ice cream.
Asian populations in Seattle enjoy green bean, red bean and taro ice creams. Other flavors are green tea, ginger, sour plum, sesame, wasabi, clove, cardamom and pumpkin. Lichee and durian fruit are newer flavors. You can tweak ice cream another way. With heat. This is not magic. The oxymoronic ice cream recipe for Mexican fried ice cream comes about logically. First, ice cream is frozen in serving-sized rounds, then dressed in a warm overcoat of crushed cereal and refrozen in its coating. The cooking time is only 15 seconds in deep fat. Similarly, with Baked Alaska, hard ice cream is placed on a sponge cake, which is on a non-heat-absorbing plank. A large meringue is heaped all over the ice cream, sealing it off from oven heat. The cooking time is only 5 minutes in a 232-degree oven.
Ice cream has always been a friendly food. Martin Elkort states, “Ice cream brings out the best in people. Associated with milk, a pure and basic food, its sweet cooling taste has pleased emperors and kings throughout the history, and is today an inexpensive way of obtaining a moment of cool bliss.”
近几年来，人们又在爽滑的冰淇淋中加入了松脆的配料——先是浆果，后是薯片、果仁、碎饼干，仍然是我们所喜欢的那种又甜又粘的口味。据位于华盛顿的国际冰淇淋协会称，将近一半的北美人都喜欢那些普通的口味，如香草、巧克力、奶油山核桃和草莓。
在新千年里，消费者们又重新喜欢上口味浓郁的全脂冰淇淋。简而言之，人们如今购买的冰淇淋更多，对冰淇淋质量的要求也更高了。尽管冰淇淋素来被当成儿童食品，但如今吃冰淇淋的成年人可比孩子多——男人比女人多。
公元前2000年左右，中国人就开始从家畜身上挤奶（喝）。当时，喝动物奶是有钱的象征。他们把米饭和动物奶调成一种柔软的糊状物，倒进大盘子里再冻起来——这就是冰淇淋的前身。
我们现在所说的冰淇淋直到1852年才开始在美国生产。马丁·埃尔科特在他的著作《食物的奥秘——享用美食佳酿，了解历史故事和民俗传说》中写道：“据埃利斯岛的督管说，1921年移民刚刚到那儿时，当地人给他们吃的一种东西就是冰淇淋。当时这是美洲的特产，所以许多人摸不着头脑，便把这种冰冻的混合物涂在面包上吃。”
不同的国家都会变化冰淇淋的口味，使之与本国的食品文化相适应。西班牙的冰淇淋（西语中称为“Helado”），体现了该地盛产香料、红辣椒和各种水果的特点。例如，卢卡斯·佩鲁卡斯公司就将罗望子果和红辣椒粉一起掺在冰淇淋里。
在印度，人们把冰淇淋叫做“kulfi”，是在杏仁奶中加入豆蔻和玫瑰水调制而成的。加入炼乳和奶油会使制作时间缩短。
在近东和中东地区，伊朗人喜欢在冰淇淋中加入色利普粉——色利普粉是将某种植物块茎煮熟后提取的物质。而土耳其人除了喜欢加色利普粉，还喜欢加乳香——乳香是从某类阿月浑子树上提取的一种树脂。
在西雅图生活的亚洲人喜欢绿豆、红豆和香芋口味的冰淇淋。其他口味包括绿茶、生姜、酸梅、芝麻、山葵、丁香、豆蔻和南瓜等。荔枝和榴莲是较新的口味。你还可以换个花样来制作冰淇淋：加热。这可并非天方夜谭。这种不可思议的墨西哥式油炸冰淇淋自有一套合理的制作方法。首先，在成品大小的圆形容器中把冰淇淋冷冻好，然后在外面浇上一层温热的碎麦片，再进行二次冰冻，把外皮冻住。油炸时间控制在15秒。与此类似地，“火焰雪山”冰淇淋的做法是，把冰冻好的冰淇淋放在一块松软的蛋糕上，蛋糕放在一块不吸热的隔板上。把厚厚的一层蛋白酥皮浇在冰淇淋上面，使之与烤箱中的温度隔绝。在摄氏232度的烤箱内只需5分钟便可大功告成了。
冰淇淋从来都是一种可口的食物。马丁·埃尔科特这样说道：“冰淇淋展现出人性中最美好的一面。它口感香甜凉爽，又是由牛奶这种纯粹而又基本的食物制作而成，让历代的帝王将相都为之心花怒放。同时在今天，人们也不用花太多钱就可以体验到片刻的清凉和无穷乐趣。”
Life Comes in a Package有一种旅行叫做人生
Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sorrow, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to handle various situations.
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