semi July through August are official Ice Cream Months with all kindsa designated ice cream days sprinkled throughout featuring flavors, sundaes, sandwiches, cones and such into early September in fact. Perfect time to re-share the very first podcast episode I created/hosted/produced for the Philadelphila Citizen -- where I tell the semi short (mostly sweet) story of ice cream-making’s missing history by blending BACK in the essential 18th-19th C. Black confectioners, culinary innovators and entrepreneurs who made American ice-cream what it is today! You'll find the episode by clicking here or the image below (then just scroll down to click the play arrow on the new page that opens up). And just like the headline says: Listen while you lick and learn a little (or a lot!) in the midst of this Ice Cream Month and next... July through August are official Ice Cream Months with all kindsa designated ice cream days sprinkled throughout featuring flavors, sundaes, sandwiches, cones and such into early September in fact. So no time like the present to re-share the very first podcast episode I created/hosted/produced for the Philadelphila Citizen -- where I tell a short (mostly sweet) story of early ice cream-making’s missing history by blending back in essential 18th-19th C. Black confectioners, culinary innovators and entrepreneurs who made American ice-cream what it is today! You'll find the episode by clicking here or the image below (then just scroll down to click the play arrow on the new page that opens up).
I'm also sharing this fab article about 3 Black Ice Cream Innovators by lifestyle journalist and author, Maria Hunt!
I was so excited to have my culinary history work showcased in this awesome article that Maria Hunt, wrote for The Kitchn earlier this year: "3 Black Pioneers Who Made Ice Cream What It Is Today" In it I got to dish out lots of scoop on three long overlooked (yet crucial!) contributors to America's enduring ice cream scene: James Hemings (America's first Chef de Cuisine -- albeit enslaved at the time -- who intros vanilla ice cream to the states), Augustus Jackson (ingenious ice cream entrepreneur, aka "The Father of Ice Cream") and inventor Alfred Cralle who created the ice cream scoop itself. Read Maria's magnificent piece here (but be forewarned you might wanna make sure your fridge is stocked with some a that ice cold creamy confection first!)
“Ice cream's one of those ...whitewashed things where they basically wrote Black people out of the history,” says Tonya Hopkins, aka The Food Griot, a food historian in New York. “Before there were mechanical ice cream makers, Black people were literally the ice cream makers!” ~ article excerpt
