Ice cream and sorbets: new dining habits, 17th-18th centuries

Despite the enormous variety of sweets produced in Portugal in the past, ice cream and sorbets were never part of the country's traditional confectionery, known primarily for egg and fruit-based preparations. Even so, they were part of the refined delicacies of the elite, following European trends.

Ice cream and sorbets in Europe

Although there is a long tradition of ice cream production, more substantiated information only begins in the 16th century. Apparently, in the 13th century, Marco Polo observed cold drinks in China, possibly being responsible for their arrival on the Italian peninsula. In Florence, during the reign of Cosimo I de' Medici (1537-1574), the architect Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608) experimented with a mixture that revolutionized cold desserts: milk, honey, egg yolk, and a touch of wine. The belief grew that anything could be frozen, including fats such as milk and eggs. Gelato was born, which joined ice cream. As defined by Luciana Polliotti, ice cream is any fresh sweet whose base is composed of milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and flavorings; while sorbet is a fresh product composed of alcohol, fruit, or spices in sugar syrup. Ice cream and sorbets have diverse consistencies and play a diverse role on the menu. In a few precise words, ice cream is drunk and ice cream is eaten.

In 1547, Catherine de Medici (1519-1579), upon marrying the future Henry II of France (1519-1559), is said to have been responsible for transmitting knowledge about ice cream and sorbets through Giuseppe Ruggeri, her gelatiere. The conditions were created for the spread of new luxury dessert products among the elite. By the end of the 17th century, ice cream had become popular in France, especially in cafés. It was a Sicilian known as Procope—who opened a café on Rue de Tournon in 1674, moving to Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie in 1684—who contributed greatly to making ice cream and sorbets the ultimate luxury food in Paris and subsequently popular. The globalization of ice cream and sorbets in Europe had begun.

In the same century, sorbets and ice creams entered European recipe books. The first preparations, in this case called fruit waters, such as strawberry, raspberry, or cherry, among others, are included in the work by Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715) entitled *Recollection of Rare and New Curiosities of the Most Admirable Effects of Nature and Art* , the first edition of which was published in Paris by Louis Vendosme in 1676. Readers were taught how to freeze these waters, prepared with fruit juice, water, and sugar, using ice cream makers, ice, and straw. For his part, Antonio Latini (1642-1696) was the author of Lo scalco alla modern, overo l'arte di ben disporre li invitation, con le regole più scelte di scalcheria, insegnate, e poste in prattica, à beneficio de' professori, ed altri studiosi , printed in Naples, by Antonio Parrino and Michele Luigi Mutti, in the years 1692-1694. In one of the volumes, he also presented some recipes for ice water.

Ice production in Portugal

In Portugal, a taste for using snow in food has been evident since at least the 16th century, although initially linked to supposed medicinal purposes. King John III (1502-1557) used to drink snow-laced water, a practice he abandoned a few days before his death. In 1609, Manuel Severim de Faria, precentor of Évora, while passing through the Serra da Estrela, mentioned the transport of snow to the court, while the inventory of the possessions of King Pedro II (1648-1706) mentioned a device for cooling drinks. The trend was particularly notable in the 18th century, with snow and ice arriving in Lisbon from the Serra da Estrela, Lousã, and Montejunto mountains, in this case with the advantage of being a short distance from the capital. Supplies were provided by the neveiros, merchants who, through contracts, agreed to supply the court or a specific location during the summer months.

The snow collected in the Serra da Estrela was packed in straw and transported in baskets and crates carried by animals and then in ox-drawn carts to river ports. The rest of the journey was made by boat. Upon arrival, it was deposited in homes or warehouses for private individuals or business owners to purchase. Since Philip III (1578-1621), successive monarchs have sought to always have snow at their disposal. Hence the establishment of contracts, the construction and inspection of wells, and the granting of facilities to establish ice production and storage facilities.

The wells of Serra da Estrela were inspected in 1732 by João Baptista Livre. King John V was therefore seeking to determine whether it was necessary to build more to ensure snowfall. Storage space was also needed in the capital. It is known that in 1732, King John V ordered the digging of two wells, with the architect João Baptista Barros tasked with determining their locations. The site chosen for one of them, presumably the only one built at the time, was the Castle of São Jorge in Lisbon. Previously, there were wells near Graça. Construction work, begun in 1732, was threatened due to a lack of funds.

Ice pits in the Montejunto mountain range (Photo by IDB).

In the Montejunto mountain range, ice production began during the 18th century. Currently, 44 wells are visible; the rest are buried. Ice was produced by the natural freezing of water in glaciers, ensuring production in situations of snowlessness. Julião Pereira de Castro appears to have held a monopoly on the snow and ice trade in the three mountain ranges—Estrela, Lousã, and Montejunto—between 1757 and 1782. The entrepreneur collected and exploited a natural resource, manufactured, and sold ice wholesale and retail. Production was a successful business, requiring knowledge of the climate and the rules of harvesting, production, ensiling, and transportation. Consumption was initially seasonal, from May to October. Once ice was produced in rural areas in sufficient quantities to supply the court and the city of Lisbon with a luxury product, it was able to expand year-round. The construction of facilities suitable for natural ice production was carried out according to models existing at the time, but adapted to the climate and solar exposure in the Montejunto mountains, a short distance from the capital.

In the tanks, the water could not be more than 12 centimeters deep, and from September onwards, ice production was possible. That is, temperatures allowed ice production to begin. Then, the ice slabs had to harden before sunrise, before the sun rose. Each slab weighed 30 to 40 kilograms, each carrying a slab weighing 30 to 40 kilograms. In the ice storage house, three men tamped the ice and deposited it in the main silo to compact it and gradually fill it. The factory had a royal name, as it supplied the king and the court. It operated until the end of the 19th century.

And the new habits

The taste for cold drinks gave rise to new habits and new objects, including bottle and glass coolers. In the 17th century, tubs filled with water and snow were already being used, placed on the floor next to the table, into which several bottles were placed. Silver or porcelain bowls with crenellated rims were also used, where the glasses were placed inverted, held by their feet. In the following century, individual glass bowls began to appear, placed to the left of the plate, for the glasses. Only at the end of the century did the cylindrical porcelain cooler with two handles and a lid appear. It was in this bowl that ice cream and fresh fruit were served for dessert.

The ice cream maker is described in detail in the first book on Portuguese confectionery, published in 1788, "A New and Curious Art for Canners, Confectioners, and Butlers." It explained its use and provided nine recipes for preparations that required snow. Previously, Domingos Rodrigues, in his work "Arte de Cozinha," first published in 1680, presented a recipe for ice cream made with water, sugar, lemon juice, pearl powder, coral powder, gold powder, musk, amber, and basar stone, but did not mention that the preparation was refrigerated. In other words, we are dealing with the use of the term "ice cream" to mean syrup. Years later, in 1780, Lucas Rigaud published " Coqueiro moderno ou nova arte de cozinha ," a work that includes syrups and "waters for summer and ice creams." In the latter case, we're dealing with recipes that use pureed fruit, sugar, and water, while also using a dedicated container, an ice cream maker. Another classic from the past, João da Mata's 1876 Arte de Cozinha (Kitchen Art ), presented several recipes in which the ice cream technique was particularly important, notably "Brazilian snow bomb" (a recipe dedicated to the Brazilian imperial family), consisting of puff pastry filled with two ice creams: one made with chestnuts and the other with various fruits: pineapple, jackfruit, jambu, apricot, apricot, peach, and melon. Less elaborate are the tangerine ice cream recipes and the four ice cream recipes: milk, strawberries, orange, and melon. The use of the ice cream maker was also carefully explained. It seems plausible that, in the Portuguese case, Italian improvements arrived via Castile, especially during the Philippian period (1580-1640) and via France, with regard to culinary treatises, since some terms reveal French influence.

In the second half of the 19th century, mechanical refrigeration and other changes were introduced, allowing for improvements in ice cream production. The major industrial breakthrough only occurred in the 20th century. Indeed, while Ferdinand Carré (1824-1900) was the first to develop a machine that could make ice cubes, an invention demonstrated at the Great Exhibition in London in 1859, it was only a few years later, in 1871, that Charles Tellier (1828-1913) developed the freezing technique for the maritime transport of meat. This success led to the improvement of cold chains, particularly with Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956), from 1929 onwards, making it possible to maintain the color and flavor of frozen foods, closer to their non-refrigerated counterparts. These improvements had repercussions on the production of ice cream and sorbets. Artisanal production, intended for personal consumption and sale to the public, began to coincide with industrial production, whose first steps in Europe and the United States took place in the first half of the 20th century.

To find out more: BRAGA, Isabel MR Mendes Drumond, Ice cream: history of a sweet and fresh temptation, Sintra, Colares Editora, 2003. BRAGA, Isabel Drumond, “1717 – Snow: a luxury at the table”, BRAGA, Isabel Drumond (coord.), Global history of Portuguese food, Lisbon: Temas e Debates, 2023, pp. 259-262.

[The articles in the Portugal 900 Years series are a weekly collaboration of the Historical Society of the Independence of Portugal. The authors' opinions represent their own positions.]