Where did they get the ice before we had refrigerators?

European introduction & evolution

“Ice cream is reputed to have been made in China as long ago as 3000 BC, but it did not arrive in Europe (via Italy) until the thirteenth century, and Britain had to wait until the late seventeenth century to enjoy it (hitherto, iced desserts had been only of the sorbet variety)… by the time Hannah Glasse and Elizabeth Raffald were giving recipes for it in the mid-eighteenth century, it was evidently well established. At first, ice cream was simply as its name suggests: cream, perhaps sweetened, set in a pot nestling in ice to cool it down. But before long recipes became more sophisticated, and the technique of periodic stirring to prevent the formation of ice crystals was introduced, and ice cream was set on a career of unbroken popularity. As early as 1821 we find mention of “ice-cream gardens’ in New York….Since introducing ice cream to Europe in the Middle Ages, Italy has never relinquished its lead in theis field, and over the centuries the manufacture of ice cream has in many countries been the province of Italian emigres.”

“Italians were the undisputed master in developing methods of chilling a freezing drinks…The creation of sorbet resulted from experiments in chilling drinks, and it too became a matter of myth. Supposedly, sorbet was also brought to France by Catherine de’Medici…There is no documentary evidence to support this hypothesis, however and we cannot prove that the art of sorbet making was already practiced in Italy in the middle of the sixteenth century…Latini’s… Treatise on Various Kinds of Sorbets, or Water Ices…composed between 1692 and 1694…contains the first written recipes on how to mix sugar, salt, snow, and lemon juice, strawberrries, sour cherries, and other fruit, as well as chocolate, cinnamon water, and different flavorings. There is also a description of a “milk sorbet that is first cooked,” which we could regard as the birth certificate of ice cream. De’sorbetti, the first book entirely dedicated to the art of making frozen confections, was published in Naples in 1775. Its author, Filippo Baldini, discusses different types of sorbets…A separate chapter deals with “milky sorbets,” meaning ice creams, whose medical properties are vigorouly proclaimed.”

“The first ice creams, in the sense of an iced and flavored confection made from full milk or cream, are thought to have been made in Italy and then in France in the 17th century, and to have been diffused from the French court to other European countries…The first recorded English use of the term ice cream (also given as iced cream) was by Ashmore (1672), recording among dishes served at the Feast of St. George at Windsor in May 1671 One Plate of Ice Cream’. The first published English recipe was by Mrs. Mary Eales (1718)…Mrs. Eales was a pioneer with few followers; ice cream recipes remained something of a rarity in English-language cookery books…As for America, Stallings observes that ice cream is recorded to have been served as early as 1744 (by the lady of Governor Blandon of Maryland, nee Barbara Jannsen, daughter of Lord Baltimore), but it does not appear to have been generally adopted until much later in the century. Although its adoption then owed much to French contacts in the period following the American Revolution, Americans shared 18th century England’s tastes and the English preference for ice creams over water ices, and proceeded enthusiastically to make ice cream a national dish.”

“The first substantial piece of writing on ice cream was an anonymous 84-page manuscript entitled L’Art de faire des Glaces which, through watermarks in the paper, has been dated “circa 1700.” It is a “how to” work of some sophistication, giving detailed instructions for the preparation of such delights as apricot, voilet, rose, chocolate, and a caramel ice creams and water ices. A number of British cookbooks of the eighteenth century contain ice cream formulas. One such work is Mrs. Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Easy (1747)–considered by scholars to be the first major cookbook written by a woman in what was until then an almost exclusively male domain. In 1768 there appeared in Paris what is undoubtedly the most outlandish treatise on the subject ever to be published. Called The Art of Making Frozen Desserts, it is a 240-page offering by one M. Emy, who not only gives formulas for “food fit for the gods,” but offers theological and philosophical explanations for such phenomena as the freezing of water. The tone of the book is set by its frontispiece, which depicts a brace of angels delivering ice cream to earth from heaven. Although frozen desserts were becoming common in regal circles, not until 1670 when the Cafe Procope opened in Paris did “iced creams” and sherbets pread to the masses.”

Which flavors were available in the 18th century?
People have been adding flavors to ice/ice cream right from the beginning! Ice cream began as granita (ice). This product was often flavored with fruit or honey. In the 18th century when the first ice creams (as we know them today) were produced, they were likewise flavored. Period recipes are excellent indicators of popular flavorings:

[1747]
“To make ice cream. Take two pewter basons, one larger than the other; the inward one must have a close cover, into which you are to put your cream, and mix it with raspberries, or whatever you like best, to give it a flavour and a colour. Sweeten it to your palate; then cover it close, and set it into the larger bason. Fill it with ice, and a handful of salt: let it stand in this ice three quarters of an hour, then uncover it, and stir the cream well together: cover it close again, and let is stand half an hour longer, after that turn it into your plate. These things are made at the pewterers.”

[1769]
“To make Ice Cream. Pare, stone, and scald twelve ripe apricots, beat them in a fine marble mortar. Put to them six ounces of double-refined sugar, a pint of scalding cream, work it through a hair sieve. Put it into a tin that has a close cover, when you see your cream grow thick round the edges of your tin, stir it, and set it again till all grows quite thick. When your cream is to be turned out of, then put on the lid. Have ready another tub with ice and salt in as before, put your mould in the middle and lay your ice under and over it, let it stand four or five hours. Dip your tin in warm water when you turn it out. If it be summer you must not turn it out til the moment you want it. You may use any sort of fruit if you nave not apricots, only observe to work it fine.”
[NOTE: Mrs. Raffald's other fruit cream (non-ice) recipes employ lemon, raspberry, and orange. She also offers recipes for pistachio and chocolate cream.]

[1780s] Thomas Jefferson’s French ice cream

[1792]
Ice Creams. Take a dozen ripe apricots, pare them very thin and stone them, scald and put them into a mortar, and beat them fine; put to them six ounces of double refined sugar, a pint of scalding cream, and rub it through a sieve with the back of a spoon; then put it into a tine with a close cover, and set it in a tub of ice broken small, with four handsful of salt mixt among the ice; when you see your cream get thick round the edges of your tin, stir it well, and put it in again till it becomes quite thick; when the cream is all froze up, take it out of the tin, and put it into the mould you intend to turn it out of: mind that you put a piece of paper on each end, between the lids and the ice cream, put on the top lid, and have another tub of ice ready, as before, put the mould in the middle, with the ice under and over it; let it stand four hours, and do not turn it out before you want it; then dip the mould into cold spring water, take off the lids and paper, and turn it into a plate. You may do any sort of fruit the same way.”The New Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice, Richard Briggs

[1824]
Ice Creams. When ice creams are not put into shapes, they should always be served in glasses with handles.
Vanilla Cream. Boil a vanilla bean in a quart of rich milk until it has imparted the flavor sufficently; then take it out, and mix with the milk, eight eggs, yelks and whites, beaten well; let it boil a little longer–make it very sweet, for much of the sugar is lost in the operation of freezing.”
Raspberry Cream. Make a quart of rich boiled custard; when cold, pour it on a quart or ripe red raspberries, mash them tin it, pass it through a sieve, sweeten and freeze it.”
Peach Cream. Get fine soft peaches, perfectly ripe, peel them, take out the stones, and put them in a China bowl; sprinkle some sugar on and chop them very small, with a silver spoon; if the peaches be sufficiently ripe, they will become a smooth pulp; add as much cream or rich milk as you have peaches; put more sugar and freeze it.”
Citron Cream. Cut the finest citron melons, when perfectly ripe, take out the seeds and slice the nicest part into a China bowl, in small pieces, that will lie conveniently, cover them with powdered sugar, and let them stand several hours, then drain off the syrup they have made, and add as much cream as it will give a strong flavour to, and freez it. Pine apples may be used in the same way.”
Observations on Ice Cream. It is the practice with some indolent cooks, to set the freezer, containing the cream, in a tub wtih ice and salt, and put it in the ice-house; it will certainly freeze there, but not until the watery particles have subsided, and by the separation destroyed the cream. A freezer should be twelve or fourteen inches deep, and eight or ten wide. This facilitates the operation very much, by giving a larger surface for the ice to form, which it always does on the sides of the vessel; a silver spoon, with a long handle, should be provided for scraping the ice from the sides, as soon as formed, and when the whole is congealed, pack it in moulds (which must be placed with care, lest they should not be upright,) in ice and salt till sufficiently hard to retain the shape–they should not be turned out till the moment they are to be served. The freezing tub must be wide enough to leave a margin of four or five inches all around the freezer when placed in the middle, which must be filled up with small lumps of ice mixed with salt–a larger tub would waste the ice. The freezer must be kept constatnly in motion during the process, and ought to be made of pewter, which is less liable than tin to be worn in holes and spoil the cream by admitting the salt water.”

The International Ice Cream Association has compiled a list of the most common flavors, which have remained popular throughout the history of ice cream.

Vanilla

1. Vanilla ice cream has consistently remained the most popular ice cream flavor. Its popularity is mostly due to the versatility of the flavor, which mixes well with toppings.

Chocolate

2. The second most popular ice cream flavor is chocolate. Most likely, this is because of the popularity of the flavor in other desserts.

Strawberry

3. Flavored after the fruit of the same name, this pink ice cream favorite has consistently ranked as a third favorite flavor in surveys taken by the International Ice Cream Association. There are also vanilla ice creams available with real strawberry fruit bits mixed in, which is not the same as strawberry flavored ice cream.

Changes in Taste

4. In the past, popular flavors included butter pecan and Neapolitan, which was actually just a mix of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream. However, later surveys have shown that tastes have changed. In recent years, cookies ‘n cream and mint chocolate chip have taken the place of those previously popular flavors.