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Today is Ice Cream Cone Day. That is reason enough to sing, and celebrate with a big sumptuous scoop. From the days when the ice-cream man would spoon out dollops of creamy goodness from a cup into a bright orange cone, to fancy machines which swirl out a stream of smooth sweetness, this most precious dessert has kept generations of kids and adults around the world happy. The sound of the ice-cream man’s tinkling cart was the high point of many a summer afternoon, and it still is.
Forever young
When and how ice cream was discovered is not clear. Some records say it was the Chinese T’ang dynasty that first made a concoction out of goat, cow and buffalo milk, thickened with flour and frozen using salt and ice. Others say it was Alexander’s army who brought back snow from the Apennine Mountains and mixed it with fruit pulp. Another theory goes that it travelled the world with the likes of Marco Polo. But from rustic ices sprinkled with condiments, ice cream changed in nature as it was put into pots and surrounded by salt and ice (like our indigenous kulfi), and then into hand-cranked machines. Now, emerging from sophisticated temperature-modulated machines, ice cream has transformed into a rich, creamy, smooth sensation.
Technique and ingredients are what distinguish gourmet from regular packaged ice cream. “Superior whipping techniques give ice cream its light and creamy texture,” explains Natasha Aggarwal, the lady behind Mama Mia!, a gelato chain in town. “The freshness of the ice cream is also extremely important. If the shelf life is long, chances are it is frozen for too long at less than perfect temperatures making the final product rock hard and devoid of its natural flavours,” she adds.
Creamy softness is often the most coveted aspect of the sweet treat. “I love the softy ice cream that comes out of the machine in swirls and disappears on my tongue. I especially like the kind that is dipped in hot chocolate sauce and is warm outside and cold and creamy inside,” sighs 14-year-old Juhi Kumar, a self-confessed ice-cream addict.
Eat the container
It is quite a kick to be able to eat a container. That could be charm of the cone. Or it could just be the sugar rush.
The earliest cones are credited to the Italians. But legend recalls a Syrian pastry maker who modelled his pancakes into a cone for an ice-cream maker at a fair who had run out of serving bowls.
Cones have become the most popular dish for the ice cream. The early sugar cones have been replaced by the delicious waffle cones that are almost as much of a treat as the ice cream in it.
“When I was about five years old, my dad would take me to see the immersion of the idols after Durga Puja, and there used to be loads of ice-cream vendors along the river. I remember pestering my parents to buy me an ice cream. I was fascinated by the cones that would hang from the roof of the trolley more than the ice cream itself,” reminisces 21-year-old Debolina Majumdar.
Flavour savour
The ice cream market — estimated at around Rs 2,000 crore — has had big players like HLL’s Kwality Walls, Amul, Vadilal and Mother Dairy for a while. But local players have also jumped into the fray to fill in the gap in the premium segment. Explains Aggarwal of Mama Mia!: “I wanted to give the city something entirely authentic. So I visited Italy, did my research and trained in the small town of Bergamo.'
Calcutta has only one international premium brand to dig in to — Baskin Robbins. “When we opened our first outlet 10 years ago on Free School Street, the regular brands would offer a maximum of 15 flavours. Our policy was to have 31 flavours — one for each day of the month at any given point,” says Rajesh Sharma, parlour manager of the Baskin Robbins outlets at Rawdon Street and City Centre. Three new flavours each month based on seasonal fruits, festivals and even films — like the blueberry and cheese vanilla-based Spider-Man flavour — keeps customers coming back for seconds and thirds.
“From the first ice cream I had in 1932, at our small boarding school in a village in Jessore district, it was a taste that has stayed with me. It is the one dessert that completes even the most lavish meal. The pink strawberry ice cream in a cone is my absolute favourite and has been the sweet ending to my meals for about 75 years now,” says 87-year-old Amalendra Nath Dutta.
Who dare say ice cream isn’t good for you?
The classics are vanilla and chocolate. Fruits, nuts, candies and liqueurs are popular variations. Here are a few unusual flavours from across the world, some appetising, some not!
• Japanese ice-cream flavours are in the realm of the bizarre. Sample these: fish, octopus, squid, cactus, deep-sea water, shark fin noodle and goat.
• Bite into the signature lobster ice cream at Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium in the US.
• Durian, with its overpowering aroma, is an ice lolly flavour in Indonesia.
• Pit viper, one of the deadliest snakes in Japan, has its own ice cream. It apparently tastes vile but is supposed to be a powerful aphrodisiac. The Dracula garlic ice cream is assured to keep the vampires at bay.
• Nogger black ice cream was the world’s first racist ice cream launched by GB Glace of Sweden, which had to deal with charges of racism and harbouring neo-Nazi sentiments.
• Rocky road ice cream was invented by ice-cream maker William Dreyer in 1929 in the US when he cut up walnuts and marshmallows and added them to chocolate ice cream during the Great Depression in America, giving people something sweet in the midst of all the loss.
• Ben and Jerry’s tribute to the guitar legend Jerry Garcia is a cherry ice cream with fresh dark cherries encased in chocolate fudge.
