We often forget that before our arrival in this world, there were lives, stories, cultures, traditions and gastronomy. We forget that the desire for something fresh in the heat of summer is as old as human history itself. We forget that the joy of eating ice cream is something that people have shared over time and continents.
THENows of Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl
Today, if we want ice cream, we can go to an Oxxo or our favorite ice cream store at any time and choose our favorite flavor. In the pre -Columbian era, eat sorbet was a luxury.
First of all, it is important to know that there was a god of ice: Iztlacoliuhqui. It was associated with natural disasters, in particular freezing and freezing temperatures. The Mexico (Aztecs) extract from the ice of popocatepetl and iztaccíhuatl volcanoes. Les Tamemes – Carriers and runners formed since childhood to make deliveries through the field at high speed that you can consider as the Fedex of the time – made two -day trips Of Tenochtitlán At the base of Popocatepetl and Iztaccíhuatl In Modern Puebla. They collect blocks of ice, wrapping them IXTLE and animal hiding places to preserve them. Then they ran with the heavy blocks on the back In Tenochtitlán.
Once there, the ice was carefully outraged and dried, crushed in small pieces and sweet with the barrette,, Honey or agave syrup and sometimes even mixed with fruits like Zapote, Cherimoya, Tejocote, Mamey and Capulín. It was placed in clay ships and sold on the TLATELOLCO market, where the Mexican priests and nobles could buy it up to 20 cocoa beans – a fortune. The snow was consumed in ceremonies intended to extend the rainy season and to delay the frost, even if I like to imagine that sometimes they simply appreciated it for pleasure.
The milk the more the snow is equal to the ice
1529 is a year that should be marked in the history of Mexico. A Spanish brother had the idea of saying to Aboriginal peoples – who already controlled the recipes and techniques for making snow – that if they add a little milk and fruit, they would receive ice.
In 1620, when the Spanish authorities created a “snow monopoly” to control the extraction and trade of ice, the first manufacturer of commercial ice cream in Mexico appeared: Leonardo Leanos. However, Leonardo’s ice creams were reserved for the elite and nobility of colonial society.
Ice cream for everyone
Thanks to the introduction of the Italian method of Garrafa in the 17th century, production costs dropped and ice cream began to flood the squares of cities.
The technique used two containers: a metal inside a wooden wood. The metal container, holding the mixture of ice cream, was surrounded by a layer of salted ice and constantly turned to maintain the texture. This method is still used in many places in Mexico today.
I do not remember seeing lasagna ice cream, Iberian ice cream or snail ice cream elsewhere in the world, although I would not be surprised if they exist. However, in Mexico, ice cream flavors have always been quite exotic.
I found once a cookbook of the convent of the 1800s from Puebla with floral ice cream like lavender, orange flower and rose petals. There were also ice creams based on aromatic herbs such as rosemary, green mint and dill. The most interesting discovery? Honey ice cream – Perhaps nuns knew that honey snow was once reserved for Mexican priests and nobles.
Since 1872, Puebla has had an ice cream in Chile in Nogada. Oaxaca offers taupe flavor cream, and Jalisco, you can find tequila with Sangrita sorbet.
With warmer days to come, I suggest that we all embrace our inner nobility and that we make honey ice. And as we appreciate it, let’s ask Iztlacoliuhqui for many rain But zero floods This year.
Honey cream
Ingredients
See this post on Instagram
Instructions
LSee me; Tell your family that You should Consider “investing” in an ice manufacturer to maintain this ancestral tradition alive. Wink, wink.
Or simply support the manufacturers of craft ice cream this season. Take a cone, find a good park and enjoy the Dolce Far Niente – Mexican style.
María Meléndez is a food blogger from Mexico City and an influencer.
The post Taste of Mexico: Nieves appeared first on Mexico News Daily
