Was ice cream invented in Philadelphia? How about by the Emperor Nero, when he poured honey over snow? Did Marco Polo first taste it in China and bring recipes back? In this first book to tell ice cream's full story, Jeri Quinzio traces the beloved confection from its earliest appearances in sixteenth-century Europe to the small towns of America and debunks some colorful myths along the way. She explains how ice cream is made, describes its social role, and connects historical events to its business and consumption. A diverting yet serious work of history, Of Sugar and Snow provides a fascinating array of recipes, from a seventeenth-century Italian lemon sorbet to a twentieth-century American strawberry mallobet, and traces how this once elite status symbol became today's universally available and wildly popular treat.

preface / ix
acknowledgments / xv

one. Early Ices and Ice Creams / 1
two. Crème de la Cream / 26
three. Ingenious Foreigners and Others / 50
four. The Land of Ice Cream / 75
five. Screaming for Ice Cream / 103
six. Women’s Work / 129
seven. Modern Times / 155
eight. Ice Cream for Breakfast / 180

epilogue. Industry and Artistry / 208

notes / 215
bibliography / 239
index / 000

AUTHOR:

Jeri Quinzio is the author of Ice Cream: The Ultimate Cold Comfort and a contributor to the ice cream entry in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. She has written on articles on a variety of food history topics for numerous periodicals and newspapers.