Ice Cream

Did you know the origin of creamy ice cream?

Imagine a stringy, elastic, and chewy ice cream – a bit like mozzarella? As one story goes, that was the original ice cream when it was invented in the Middle East in the 16th century.  The 500-year-old technique has been rediscovered by an ice cream shop in New York that serves elastic ice cream in a wide range of innovative flavours. Unusual consistency has made this “original” ice cream a big Insta-hit.

Another common myth is Italian traveller Marco Polo bringing back an ice cream recipe after travelling far east. The myth has been widely refuted but the fact remains that different Italian chefs experimented with ice cream recipes. Slowly it became softer, creamier, and resembled the ice cream we love today.

Next step likely happened in Florence where one farmer presented a homemade dessert from ice, fruit, and sugar to Caterina de Medici. She enjoyed it so much that she took him to her wedding in France, so he could make it for the wedding guests.

Today, ice cream is everything from old-fashioned homemade recipes, frozen cream with berries or chocolate pieces, famous rainbow ice cream and more. New ice cream variations with cake, cookies, toppings, and other fun combinations are being developed all the time. Ice cream is an adventure we associate with fun and indulgence on a hot summer day.

A novelty ice cream from the ’80’ties – the Wofler – is still popular in Denmark. Large crispy waffle cone filled with nougat and pineapple ice cream and sprinkled with hazelnuts, chocolate pieces and caramelized almonds. They call it a living legend!

Koldskål

Did you know that a dish called “koldskål” was extremely popular in Denmark in the 1970’s, especially during the summer? “Koldskål” (which means “cold bowl” in Danish) originates in Denmark but the word stems from Low German “koldeschâl”.

Koldskål wasn’t always based on dairy. Originally, it was a sweet and cold soup served as an appetizer during summer months. It was made from fruit, wine, or beer – not milk. It is a bit of a miracle that koldskål contains buttermilk now because initially buttermilk was used solely to feed pigs. It wasn’t until 1920s that buttermilk was accepted as suitable food for humans and then it replaced beer, wine, and fruit in the koldskål recipe. Today, koldskål is based exclusively on dairy.

A typical recipe is buttermilk or condensed milk blended with eggnog, lemon, and vanilla. The first premixed and ready to drink products appeared in Danish supermarkets around 1979. Danes prefer their koldskål with heavy taste of vanilla. We serve it with “kammerjunkers” – small butter cookies with loads of vanilla. These delicious “kammerjunker” are quite popular because of their buttery taste and sweetness that matches koldskål so well. We really do like that.