A brief history of Chime
Robert E Ellinor

So just how old is Ice Cream?
Join me on a story through time, where we explore the fascinating tales and legends of Ice Cream. Our story begins back in the Tang dynasty of China (618 – 907 AD) which began with the “Li” family after the fall of the “Su”i Empire. It was during this reign that an Ice Cream ‘like’ product was invented for the royalty, made from a mixture of cow, goat and buffalo Milk, Rice, thickened using flour and flavoured using camphor.
Camphor came from the Camphor Laurel, a large evergreen tree found in Asia. The Camphor came from the wood, had a waxy texture with strong aromas. Camphor continued to be used through history, even in medieval times camphor was used to flavour sweets, and today, can be found in cough medicines.

The Tang recipe for the Ice Cream type product has of course been lost for thousands of years; however it was during the Tang Empire which legend tells us of the famous explorer Marco Polo (1254 – 1324), an Italian Merchant, who witnessed such a product being made high in the mountains and took the idea back to Italy. Our story continues with Roman Emperor Nero, who legend tells us sent slave up into the mountains to bring back fresh snow, which was then flavoured and served. One question does remain, how would, during the time of Nero’s Rule, these slaves transport the fresh snow from the mountains without it melting into nothing but water?

This transport issue leaves considerable doubt in the Italians claim to the Ice Cream history, I’m sure it could have been possible, the use of stone “wells” and stone barrels may play part. What Emperor Nero would have enjoyed could have at best been a cold slushy mixture flavoured by fruits and honey. Needless to say, the Ice Cream idea came to Europe, and with the Italians serving a new exciting treat, it didn’t take long for the idea to catch on and travel. We can all agree, that since then Italy has in fact soared in the Ice Cream industry and in modern day makes some of the worlds very best.

The beautiful hills of England. King Charles II is supposed to have a paid a chef a considerable amount of money each year to hold onto an ice cream recipe and make the Ice Cream for banquets, however the name of the mysterious chef is not known and his / her recipe of course went to the grave.

After Ice Creams popularity through Europe, it was not long before America caught up on the fashion. Ice Cream practically exploded through America and it was not long before Ice Cream was a treat not only for the rich and powerful like in Europe but for all. It was expensive to make in the mountains of china and Italy, and America brought a new horizon to the iced sweet.
We now travel to the 1800’s when the first commercialisation of Ice Cream began. In America then these were known as Ice Houses.
In 1874 a whole new novelty came to the ice cream world, something called Soda. Soda during this time was considered addictive and frowned upon by the church and many towns and because of   this, was banned to be served or consumed on Sundays.
On a warm day in 1874 after a Soda parlour ran out of cream to put on top of the popular drink, the owner decided to put a scoop of ice cream on top instead. The new invention went through the roof almost to the same popularity as the soda itself. The Soda and Ice Cream mixes were topped with Honey, Fruit Juices and many other flavours.
As mentioned above, suddenly a ban came into effect and the parlours could no longer serve their soda on a Sunday. To get round the new law, the parlours invented something new. Rather than using soda, the ice cream was scooped into a glass, topped with a syrup and served under a new name the “Sunday”. Due to the religious aspects the name was shortly changed, the Y was replaced with an E, and the Sundae is still a name we use to this very day.

Nancy Johnson (1795 – 1890) was the inventor of the first Ice Cream freezing machine in 1843. This was a manual, hand cranked machine with an outer wooden pale containing crushed ice, and an inner tin which contained the mixture to be frozen. A lid was bolted and a handle turned which mixed the crushed ice and flavours together. Nancy sold off her invention very cheaply, and it later became the standard mechanism for many years and a fortune was made from the invention.

In 1919, candy store owner Christian Nelson served a young boy who could not decide between a candy bar, and an ice cream sandwich. Troubled and with only one Nickel this sparked an idea in Nelson’s mind, why cant the boy have both? He set about making a new Ice Cream, combining chocolate and Ice Cream together. After many failed attempts Nelson learned that coco butter improves the clinging ability from a candy salesman, then with his next attempt being a success in one try, Nelson took his new Ice Cream known and the “I-Scream Bar” to a Fireman’s tournament and sold all 500 in the one day.

Around the same time, Harry Burt revolutionised the ice cream industry. Fed up of Ice Cream Bars being so messy, he decided a new way to hold ice cream was needed. He experimented and succeeded in getting the ice cream bars to freeze around a stick. He called it, “The good Humour Bar” He wanted to not only mimic the popular Eskimo Pie but perfect on it with his new idea. Harry Burt took to the street in a single truck, what we now know as Ice Cream Vans, to sell his invention. With a huge rate of popularity and a new way to reach customers, Burt invested in multiple trucks and even hired drivers to deliver and sell his product.
The invention of the classic Ice Cream Man uniform was born, the white coats, tipped hat and bow tie. Burt took America by storm, his Ice Cream Bar and trucks even made it as far as Chicago; this was where a new problem came to light. Chicago was home to a very rich and powerful Mob, who liked the Ice Cream business idea and quickly tried to put Burt under a protection racket. Burt’s popularity grew with the public as one of the rare figures who, despite the burning and destruction of many of his trucks, stood up to the Mob and did not let any protection racket scare him.

Where did the Ice Cream Cone come from?
After the invention of the ice cream cone n America, over 30 million were sold in the first 5 years, but where did it all begin?
Like many great inventions, by pure chance and luck. A Syrian immigrant by the name of Earnest E Hamwi made a living by selling Persian type waffles at fairs and events. One day in 1904, Earnest was placed next to an ice cream seller who, ran out of dishes. A helpful and, I’m sure for a price, Hamwi offered to help. By rolling his thin waffles into the shape of what we call cones the ice cream seller could place his scoop inside. The popularity of this lead to more developments being made and in the 1930’s the first “dripless” waffle was invented, soon to be sold in parlours and eventually in Ice Cream Vans themselves. Modern day cones soon took place of the waffles for price, practicality and storage reasons.

This concludes our brief history of chime, we’ve explored icy mountains in ancient China, to the Ice Cream Vans of America. Is there more to this story, of course, perhaps there is more knowledge out there somewhere, perhaps, there are things about Ice Cream we will never know. But what we do know, is the world is overjoyed it was ever thought up in the first place.