It’s 98 degrees outside and you are sitting in the blazing hot sun. What could be better than some ice cream to cool you down! In their seven hundred and sixteenth episode of the podcast “How Stuff Works,” Josh Clark and Charles Bryant discussed “How Ice Cream Works.”
Over the course of the podcast, the two hosts discussed the origins of ice cream, how it is made, different recipes, and most importantly how ice cream has evolved over time. Some highlights of these points include that ice cream dates back to 2nd Century B.C. In general, they described ice cream as a Colloid that undergoes a specific manufacturing process that by adding or editing different steps of the process, you get different forms of ice cream like frozen yogurt or sorbet. There have also been efforts over the years to make ice cream healthier. One last highlight they mentioned was that ice cream has made its way around the world as is consumed by many countries and was very prominent in a few wars. They even mentioned you can even make five minute ice cream (which I definitely plan on trying)!
One exchange that I found very interesting while listening to the podcast episode was…
“Chuck: Nostradamus episode. That’s right. She was big on it. She was the wife of Henry II. And back then, though, it was, you know, in the 1500s and the 16th century it was only, like, for royalty because ice was-
Josh: Yeah.
Chuck: You know, they didn’t have freezers and they didn’t have ice machines.
Josh: You needed a guy to go run up to the mountain and bring it down.
Chuck: [LAUGHS] Exactly.
Josh: Yeah. No, it was a big deal to have ice.
Chuck: Yeah.
Josh: You’re super rich. So apparently by about the 17th century, there was at least one café in Paris-I think it was the first café in Paris-that started selling ice cream to the public, in 1660.
Chuck: Nice.
Josh: They basically made it egalitarian, and from that point on, ice cream was a definite luxury item, but you didn’t have to be royalty to obtain it,” (00:08:19-00:09:20).
What I found most interesting about this was that today we can buy a gallon of ice cream for $5.99 in the freezer section of the grocery store whereas in the 1500s it required labor and effort to retrieve ice. Not to mention that it was extremely inconvenient in the middle of the summer when no ice was around from winter weather.
Our ability to have things like ice cream at the tips of our fingers can be attributed to advances made in technology and society. Advancements make our lives more convenient and allows us to put in less effort to complete everyday tasks. Therefore, they are very useful, but I realized that advancements also take away the excitement to obtain some objects in some cases. For example, ice cream it is no longer considered much of a luxury item and it is a common item on the average person’s shopping list, as well as a staple item for getting through a breakup. So, I don’t get too exited when I buy ice cream and don’t see it as much of a special treat since its commonly around.
Over time things change and that is natural, but we also don’t give much thought to the fact that simple things we sometimes take for granted weren’t always this accessible. For instance, as I take that gallon of ice cream out of the fridge we don’t give a second thought to the fact that it wasn’t always this easy, available, and cheap. And I defiantly don’t think about someone climbing to get ice in ninety degree weather, and then lugging it back home to make ice cream thousands of years ago. I thought this was just as interesting concept to think about.
One more realization I had was that as things become more accessible to us, we then work to get another thing within our reach. I believe this is what keeps us continuously wanting more and the reason as to why we are never satisfied. Since we can keep working to get more and more things accessible to us, we will continue to try in order to have as many things as possible within our reach. We will never be satisfied and will continue working because it is physically impossible to have everything. Therefore, I think this is a major factor of motivation in our society today.
Overall, I realized many unexpected things from learning about how ice cream works and I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast. If you have any free time, I would suggest listening!
AND keep in mind that one thing that hasn’t changed is that ice cream is still just as delicious and refreshing to eat!
Works Cited
Stafford, Gemma. “6 Ice Cream Flavors: Homemade Ice Cream.” Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking, 7 May 2015, http://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BBB64-Ice-Cream-Party-Thumbnail-FINAL.jpg.
Clark, Josh, and Charles Bryant. “How Ice Cream Works.” How Stuff Works, 5 Feb. 2015, www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-ice-cream-works-transcript.htm.
Kate's Corner 
