Ice cream in November? It sounds like the wrong season – and yet it is exactly the right time to tell this story. The history of ice cream does not begin in high summer but on cold winter nights in the Iranian desert. More than 2,000 years ago, people there were already making ice and keeping it until summer. From Persia the trail leads through the Ottoman Empire to Italy and France, to India and Turkey. In this article we follow it – and explain why "sorbet" is really a Persian word.
The history of ice cream begins in the desert#
If you want to eat ice cream, you first need ice. Before refrigerators, that was a real challenge in the hot climate of central Iran. The answer was ice houses, which were already being built around 400 BCE. With them, chilled drinks and sweets in summer were no longer a lucky break of the weather but something you could plan.
Drinks cooled with snow were also known in ancient Greece and Rome. What made Persia special: here ice was not only stored in the middle of the desert, it was actually produced there.
Yakhchal: the ice houses of Persia#
The Persian word yakhchal literally means "ice pit" (yakh = ice, chal = pit). A yakhchal consists of a deep underground store beneath a tall, cone-shaped dome with walls several metres thick. Next to it lay shallow pools, filled in winter from the qanats, Iran's underground water channels. A long east–west wall cast shade over the pools so that the water froze on clear winter nights. Before sunrise the ice was broken out and carried into the store – well insulated, all the way into the hot months.
Some of these buildings still stand today, for example in Meybod, Kerman or Abarkuh. And the word lives on: in modern Persian, a refrigerator is also called yakhchal. The Wikipedia article on the yakhchal explains in detail how the cooling works.
Faloodeh and bastani: Persian ice cream today#
Ice, sugar and rosewater gave rise to one of the oldest frozen desserts in the world: faloodeh. Fine starch noodles rest in a half-frozen syrup of sugar and rosewater, often with a squeeze of lime juice or sour cherry syrup. The version from Shiraz, faloodeh shirazi, is especially famous.
It is often served alongside bastani, or more precisely bastani sonnati, "traditional ice cream". It glows yellow with saffron, smells of rosewater and is full of pistachios. Small pieces of frozen cream are typical, and sometimes salep – flour from orchid tubers – gives it a slightly stretchy texture. Also popular is bastani nooni: a thick slice of bastani between two thin wafers.
Read more about rosewater, saffron and pistachios in Iranian desserts in our article on Persian sweets. Our article on Persian spices shows the role rose petals and other aromas play in Iranian cooking.
Sorbet origin: from sharbat to sorbetto#
A look in the dictionary reveals how the idea travelled to Europe. Persian sharbat is a cool, sweet drink made from fruit juice, syrup or flower water; the word goes back to the Arabic verb shariba, "to drink". Through Ottoman Turkish şerbet it reached Italian as sorbetto and from there French as sorbet. So the sorbet origin lies in a drink, not a dessert. The English words "sherbet" and "syrup" come from the same Arabic root.
In Iran, sharbat is still drunk today, for example with rosewater, sour cherries or as sekanjabin made of vinegar, sugar and mint. In Europe it became a new chapter in the history of ice cream: Italian cooks learned to freeze sweetened fruit juices. The Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli made such frozen treats popular in Paris in the late 17th century and is regarded by many as a pioneer of modern gelato.
Dondurma and kulfi: ice cream along the old trade routes#
West and east of Persia, too, ice cream traditions developed that share a lot with Persian cuisine.
Dondurma from Turkey#
Turkish dondurma – literally "freezing" – is said to come from the city of Kahramanmaraş. Salep and mastic resin make it so chewy and stretchy that vendors knead it with long rods and like to tease their customers when handing it over. Salep is also known from Persian bastani – a lovely example of how ingredients travel between neighbouring cuisines.
Kulfi from India#
In India and Pakistan, kulfi is popular: reduced milk that is frozen in small moulds without being whipped, which makes it particularly dense. It is often flavoured with cardamom, saffron and pistachios – aromas that immediately feel familiar to anyone who knows Persian cooking. That is no coincidence: the Mughal emperors adopted Persian techniques of ice storage, and Persian culture shaped the cuisine at their court.
From tea house to ice cream parlour: cool pleasures in Vienna#
In Vienna, ice cream is as natural a part of city life in summer as coffee is all year round. Our comparison of the Viennese coffee house and the Persian tea house shows that Vienna and Persia have more in common when it comes to enjoyment and lingering than you might think. In both cultures it is not only about what is in the glass or bowl, but about the time you take for it.
Conclusion: the history of ice cream tastes of rosewater#
The history of ice cream shows how far a good idea can travel: from the ice pits of the Iranian desert via sharbat to Italian gelato, Turkish dondurma and Indian kulfi. The next time you order a sorbet, you are speaking a little bit of Persian.
If you would rather enjoy the flavours of Persia – saffron, rosewater, pistachio – at a laid table: SANTOOR at Florianigasse 20, 1080 Vienna, is a Persian restaurant with a 100% halal kitchen, open daily from 12:00 to 22:00. Book your table here. Nooshe jan – enjoy your meal!