ICE CREAM: originally signified a frozen mixture of sweetened milk or cream, but the term has for many genera tions been applied to a wide range of frozen delicacies of widely differing com position—varying from the original plain milk or cream basis to the most fancy French and Italian mixtures, and including alike within its popular significance those enriched with eggs and mixed with fresh and preserved fruits, nuts, etc., and the types cheapened or modified by a liberal use of cornstarch, etc., for the tastes and demands of the public vary widely. In its various forms it is consumed more generally in the United States than anywhere else on the globe. In commercial manufacture, a small quantity of gelatine or vegetable gum is generally included to add "smoothness" and prevent crystallization or graining.
The manufacture of ice cream has become an important industry. The former type of machine freezer, similar to the household freezer, has to a very large extent been superseded by self-charging and self-emptying freezing apparatus in which mechanically refrigerated brine in sealed coils or chambers takes the place of the open tub of ice and salt. In all of the larger factories, and in many of the smaller, mechani
cal mixers have also taken the place of the open vats and kettles, and mechanically refrigerated dry cold-storage rooms have succeeded the old ice and salt pack for hard ening the ice cream after it leaves the freezer. The output for 1910 of factories sell ing at wholesale alone reached nearly 125,000,000 gallons.
In all of the bigger cities, the large companies not only deliver ice cream to grocers, but also furnish the cooling cabinets in which to keep it.
For household purposes, junket prepared from pure milk, mixed with whatever cream can be spared, is an excellent material for the making of ice cream, giving a smooth, delicate article at minimum expense. The junket process renders the prod uct more easily digestible while at the same time thickening and improving its body.