Ice cream has nourished and delighted rules from ancient times through this modern era. The Roman emperor Nero (37-68 CE) loved his ice cream topped with fruit, while King Tang of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE) had 94 ice men who helped him make a dish of buffalo milk, flour and camphor. In the United States, George Washington enjoyed ice cream with his single working tooth as president, and Thomas Jefferson and Dolly Madison served it in their White House tenures as well.

The blockbuster 1751 cookbook The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy; Which far exceeds any Thing of the Kind yet published by Hannah Glasse made the recipe for ice cream widely available, though the ingredients were still pricy and difficult to come by. Martha Washington, who had a copy, would have had to import sugar and salt. The process would require having a dairy cow (and being wealthy enough to keep the milk and cream) and having an ice house to store the ice required to cool the ingredients.

Now, ice cream is relatively easy to make and very easy to procure. Our wellness focused culture has raised another question: what are the health benefits or risks associated with eating ice cream? There have been some correlative findings to suggest that those who eat a reasonable amount of ice cream might actually enjoy health benefits like a lower risk of heart problems. Although ice cream qualifies as a processed food, and therefore most experts advise moderation, ice creams are being  developed with functional ingredients-extra protein, probiotics and the like. Also worth remembering? A practice called intuitive eating has been found to predict better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors, which surely includes the enjoyment of a cone now and then.

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