Thomas Jefferson's Ice Cream

Jefferson's Recipe

Loretta reports:

This week in 1904 saw the invention at the World’s Fair (aka Louisiana Purchase Exhibition)  of the ice cream cone.  Charles E Menches was one of several confectioners credited with creating the cone.  As these color stereoscopic images show, the crowds were large and there was a lot of territory to cover.  Ice cream in an edible, portable container: What a great idea!

Ice cream itself, though, had been around for a long time before this.  Thomas Jefferson brought back this recipe from France.  Yes, that’s his handwriting.  Since it's tricky to decipher, you might want to look at the transcriptions here and here,  and read more about Georgian Ices here at Historic Food.

The Ice Cream Girl c.1913

Both images courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.  Clicking on captions will take you to the LOC page, and additional information.