Ice cream, devoured in victory and fit for a king

Although no particular inventor can lay claim to the creation of ice cream, it is dated in history that Alexander the Great had a craving for snow and ice which was covered in honey and nectar which probably set a trend for others to follow.
Italian merchant traveller, Marco Polo took a trip to the Far East and upon his return to Italy he presented a recipe which had similarities to that of a sorbet. The frozen dessert became popular and the Italians then were creating delicacies that they called ‘creamed ice.’
These went down very well with the French royalty at the time, served up to Henry II, and in 1660 ice cream became available to the general public.
It was the Sicilian Procopio that actually introduced the recipe of blending milk, cream butter and eggs at the first cafe in Paris ‘Cafe Procope.’
The Americans caught on to the trend in the 19th century, and ice cream was sold in soda parlours, hence ice cream soda, and ice cream was an important part of raising the morale of troops in World War II. In fact in 1945 the first ‘Floating ice cream parlour’ was built for the sailors out in the South Pacific! Ice cream became so popular in the United States that they celebrated their war victory with it where they claimed to have licked around 40 pint jugs per person!
Today we see ice cream parlours on every street corner which the Spanish call Heladerias displaying trays upon trays of up to the minute delicious combinations. The good news is that you don’t have to eat snow with honey or travel to the Far East or Italy, you can just relax on the Costa and choose some of the best ice creams that have evolved into being fit for a king. Why not indulge yourself!