Dr. Garritt (Chip) Van Dyk

And suddenly the ability to freeze things on demand becomes really easy.

And now we start to get things like the first gelato.

Absolutely.

So the prices of sugar dropped dramatically during the 17th century as the Atlantic sugar colonies come online.

Obviously, a great cost to humans as enslaved Africans are the workforce.

But with that, sugar prices start to drop.

So something that was limited to the apothecary, the pharmacist, and as a medicine for the very rich, suddenly becomes within the reach of more middling people.

And it plays a big part because sugar is an

antifreeze.

So just like, you know, we know that alcohol is an antifreeze, but sugar is also an antifreeze and helps prevent crystallization.

So it starts to give you a much smoother texture than anything that was made before with honey.

So it starts to make your ice cream really smooth.

Absolutely.

And there's always in matters relating to taste and food and even wine,

you get this battle amongst the Europeans for who was first.

So right about 1690, we get two different countries that are battling for it.

So we get Alberto Latina and we get Nicolas Odiger in France.

And the two of them basically claim to be the first.

So Alberto makes something that's kind of like a gelato with the kind of sort of candied fruits that you would normally associate with like a fruitcake or a Christmas cake.

And he's got those in a milk base together with some sugar.