Chocolate ice cream is

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

with natural or artificial chocolate flavoring. One of the oldest flavors of ice creams, it is also one of the world's most popular. While most often sold alone, it is also a base for many other flavors.

History

The earliest frozen chocolate recipes were published in Naples, Italy, in 1693 in Antonio Latini's ''The Modern Steward''. Chocolate was one of the first ice cream flavors, created before

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

, common drinks such as hot chocolate, coffee, and tea were the first food items to be turned into frozen desserts.

Hot chocolate Hot Chocolate are a British soul band formed by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. The group had at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1984. Their hits include " You Sexy Thing", a UK number two which also made ...

had become a popular drink in seventeenth-century Europe, alongside coffee and tea, and all three beverages were used to make frozen and unfrozen desserts. Latini produced two recipes for ices based on the drink, both of which contained only chocolate and sugar. In 1775, Italian doctor Filippo Baldini wrote a treatise entitled , in which he recommended chocolate ice cream as a remedy for various medical conditions, including

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

and

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

. Chocolate ice cream became popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century. The first advertisement for ice cream in America started in New York on May 12, 1777, when Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was officially available "almost every day". Until 1800, ice cream was a rare and exotic dessert enjoyed mostly by the elite. Around 1800 insulated ice houses were invented and manufacturing ice cream soon became an industry in America.

Production

Chocolate ice cream is generally made by blending

cocoa powder Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the ...

, and the eggs, cream, vanilla, and sugar used to make vanilla ice cream. Sometimes

chocolate liquor Chocolate liquor, also called cocoa liquor, paste or mass, is pure cocoa in liquid or semi-solid form. It is produced from cocoa bean nibs that have been fermented, dried, roasted, and separated from their skins. The nibs are ground to the point ...

is used in addition to cocoa powder or used exclusively to create the chocolate flavor. Cocoa powder gives chocolate ice cream its brown color, and it is uncommon to add other colorings. The

Codex Alimentarius The is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations relating to f ...

, which provides an international set of standards for food, states that the flavor in chocolate ice cream must come from nonfat cocoa solids that must comprise at least 2.0–2.5% of the mix weight. The US

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...

"permits reductions in the content of milk fat and total milk solids by a factor of 2.5 times the weight of the cocoa solids", to take into account the use of additional sweeteners. The minimum fat content of chocolate ice cream in both Canada and the United States is 8%, irrespective of the amount of chocolate sweetener in the recipe.

Availability

Chocolate ice cream is sold in

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

cafés A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

diners A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe and Australia. Diners offer a wide range of cuisine, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

grocery A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

and

convenience Convenient procedures, products and services are those intended to increase ease in accessibility, save resources (such as time, effort and energy) and decrease frustration. A modern convenience is a labor-saving device, service or substance ...

stores. Ice cream parlors specialize in the sale of ice cream. Chocolate is one of the five most popular ice cream flavors in the United States and is second only to vanilla.

Other flavors

Chocolate ice cream is used in the creation of other flavors, such as rocky road. Other flavors of ice cream contain chocolate chips mixed in with the ice cream. For example, (plain) chocolate chip ice cream is made with

ice cream, chocolate chocolate chip (or double chocolate chip) ice cream is made with chocolate ice cream, and mint chocolate chip ice cream is made with

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

ice cream.

References

Bibliography

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