The history of ice cream goes back to the frozen deserts made of snow and ice by the Chinese and others like the Romans. The early Muslim Arabs took to it and the Khalifs of Baghdad drank syrups cooled with snow. This delicious drink was originally called sharbet (in Arabic.) The name and recipe would travel around the world and give rise to sorbetto (Italian) and sorbet (English) ice cream and many other variations.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, ice creams disappeared in Europe but not in Arabia where the making of frozen drinks kept improving. The Arabs learnt ice cream-making from the Chinese and, when Muslims invaded Sicily, ice cream-making was revived in Italy and spread to France and the rest of the world. A story (unconfirmed) says that a disciple of Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) invented a way to freeze fruit juices by placing them into containers, which were then placed into other containers of chopped ice. This ice cream making system was used throughout the centuries till refrigerators were invented.
Ice cream was the favourite desert for the caliphs of Baghdad. It grew more refined with Arab inventions: sugar and new fruit juices were added. Arabs were first to make ice cream commercially, with factories in the 10th century. It was sold in all Arab cities. The Arabs took it to Sicily and from there ice cream spread in Europe. Crusaders also brought back recipes and ice cream became a new discovery for rich people's banquets.
The West has Muslims to thank for the popular desert called ice cream.
Irresistible Ice Cream
