Philosophizing About Food With Francine: Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and Plum Galette

by Francine Black

Plum galette with a scoop of our homemade vanilla ice cream!

I’ve always thought of ice cream as a modern Western invention. I have the images of my kids licking cones with ice cream dripping down their chins, friends enjoying pie a la mode and a cup of coffee at the local diner, queues at our local dairy store with families waiting to order their favorite flavor double dip. I now stand corrected!

Apparently, early civilizations couldn’t resist the enticement of a sweet icy treat either. There was no one single inventor of ice cream as the ancients independently created a type of icy treat using ice from underground storage troves and mountain snow.

In China, the Tang Dynasty enjoyed frozen milk and rice flavored with camphor.

In Persia and the Middle East, they made icy faloodah (noodles) with chilled fruit syrups, a concoction that became today’s sherbet.

In Rome, Nero mixed mountain snow with honey, nuts, and fruit. Italy, France and England refined those concoctions into custard-based treats served only to the royals.

American founding fathers Washington and Jefferson loved the stuff and spent massive sums to have ice cream available for themselves and special guests.

It was in 1843, however, that Mrs. Nancy Johnson patented the very first hand cranked ice cream freezer using ice and salt, making it wildly popular. Many an American porch saw kids taking turns turning the crank with the promise of fresh strawberry or peach ice cream. That led to Alfred L. Cralle’s invention of the ice cream scoop in 1897 and then to the 1904 St. Louis World Fair that saw the birth of the first ice cream cone.

There’s something wonderful that happens the moment that first spoon of creamy dessert slides down our throats. Some psychologists even call it therapeutic. Apparently, the joy of ice cream knows no time nor any boundary.

What would summertime be without it? It certainly complimented our galette!

High in the mountains above Bally, where the dense groves of treetops seem to touch the sky, is Francine Black, Boyertown’s own version of chef Julia Child. Her daily activities reflect the things she most values: family and friends, music, and lovingly prepared food.

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