I read a book while taking my graduate level Children's Literature class; the book was titled Ice Cream: the Full Scoop. Well, I thought it was cute—an illustrated history of ice cream with a pun for a title.
Think about it, though. Before electric freezers, no-one could have a carton of ice cream in their house. What a tragedy. And I think also about fictional Anne Shirley, who was just dying to go to her Sunday school picnic so she could have a taste of it, a treat so rare you were lucky if you had it once your entire childhood.
When I was little, I remember having homemade peach ice cream made with one of those huge, old-fashioned ice cream churners. The ice cream was good, but a little lacking in the frozen department—quite soupy, actually. Every time I remember having homemade ice cream that was the case. Then, we made it for a "lab" in my 9th grade science class, using two ziplock bags, lots of ice, and rock salt. It was pretty good. I was about to say something snide about the lack of educational value, but now I do seem to remember learning something about salt and the freezing temperature.
Modern conveniences are wonderful, really. My mom has an ice cream maker, all electric. You can make your own ice cream, free from preservatives and high fructose corn syrup, ready to eat, in about half an hour. Granted, that's if you discount the trip to Wal-mart to get the supplies, where everyone gets distracted by the sports equipment aisle and you end up waiting in line a lot longer than you expected, because who ever expects to have to wait in line anymore. At any rate, this evening was delightful for many reasons, not the least of which was the homemade Chocolate Almond Ice Cream.
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