How Ice (and Slurpees) Made Life Worth Living: A Fascinating History of Frozen Water
By: Kara Newman (WSJ)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
HOW THANKFUL are you for frozen water? It may be difficult, now, to conceive what a luxury it once was to possess such a thing—and how many treats we now take for granted that it made possible. But a pair of new books are here to help us do just that.
"In the age of refrigeration, ice really is an inexpensive luxury," said Amy Brady, author of "Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—A Cool History of a Hot Commodity (Jun. 6, G.P. Putnam's Sons).
Less than a century ago, iceboxes cooled by 50-pound blocks of ice were still the norm in American households. Ms. Brady tells the story of “Ice King” Frederic Tudor, who as early as 1806 began shipping blocks harvested from New England’s frozen lakes to the Caribbean. As the ice trade grew, ships carried the frigid cargo as far away as India and returned with fruits and other perishables not grown in the U.S.
COOL GIRLS With men fighting overseas in World War I, women took up the job of ice delivery. Photo: National Archives, Photo No. 165-WW-595A
Enjoy a good steak and a cold beer? Then raise a toast to ice-cooled trains, which transported meat and poultry far and wide from ranches and processing plants in the heartland, as well as lager—a style of beer whose brewing process and shelf life are particularly dependent on cold temperatures—from breweries founded by German immigrants around the Great Lakes.
An enduring craving for cold drinks—and novel ways of enjoying them—has brought us full-circle to a new age of luxury ice. In “The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts” (May 23, Red Lightning Books), Camper English provides a guide to creating the spheres, jewels and other cool shapes bartenders are bringing to drinks. “Ice is a functional ingredient, but it can act like a garnish too,” Mr. English said.
Ice has shaped the way we eat and drink in so many ways. Here, a few icy highlights over the decades:
1840s: Fresh Seafood
The first ice machine was created in the 1840s. Previously, seafood “wasn’t eaten more than a few miles inland,” Ms. Brady notes. Manufactured ice enabled Gulf Coast fishermen to pack their hulls with ice, then send still-fresh fish via insulated train cars to the Midwest.
1900s: Iced Tea
At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, a giant ice plant was modified into one of the world’s first and largest electric air conditioners. It supplied the fair’s India Pavilion, where tea was brewed and poured over ice. “The drink was a sensation,” Ms. Brady writes.
1920s: Popsicles
The ice cream peddlers of the late 1800s and early 1900s gave way to motorized ice-cream trucks. In Youngstown, Ohio, Harry Burt founded Good Humor in 1902, selling small bricks of ice cream coated in chocolate and stuck with lollipop sticks, sold by drivers dressed in crisp white uniforms. In 1923, San Francisco entrepreneur Frank Epperson founded Epsicles, later renamed Popsicles, billed as icy “drinks on a stick.”
1960s: The Slurpee
This frozen drink sold at 7-Eleven Stores has dual icy roots. The chain itself grew out of World War I-era icehouses in Southern states, where car-owning families would stop to buy ice, often after purchasing groceries. In 1927, a Dallas icehouse owner started providing grocery staples and paper bags to carry them away, an enterprise that became the Tote’m Stores chain, later rebranded as 7-Eleven. In the 1950s, Kansas City Dairy Queen owner Omar Knedlik sold half-frozen root beer straight from his freezer and then rigged a machine to more efficiently produce the slushy drink, which he dubbed the Icee. 7-Eleven purchased the machine and the rights to the name, which became the Slurpee in 1966.
2000s: Cocktail Ice
Nearly two centuries after “Ice King” Frederic Tudor shipped ice to New Orleans, giving rise to ice-cooled smashes, cobblers and more, the cocktail renaissance brought fancy ice to drinks across the nation. Today, bartenders use Kold-Draft machines to crank out perfect cubes, or wield chain saws and other tools in pursuit of ice excellence.
HOW TO MAKE THE NICEST ICE
With these tools, bartenders bring icy dazzle to cocktails
Photo: F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street JournalStainless Steel Ice Chipper
A well-made, well-designed ice pick is useful for scraping, shaping and chipping large chunks of ice into smaller pieces. $34, Fortune-Candy.com
Photo: F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street JournalThe Ice Designer Plate
Top bartenders use this brass plate to stamp fancy designs on cubes used to both cool and garnish drinks. $197, TheIceDesigner.com
Photo: F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street JournalIce Ball Maker
This gizmo rapidly transforms an ice chunk or cube into a sleek sphere. $180, CocktailKingdom.com
Photo: F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street JournalDexas ice•ology Clear Ice Cube Tray
A zero-fuss way to make bar-ready, crystal-clear ice in a home freezer. $43 for a tray to make 2 large cubes, Store.Dexas.com
Gin and Tonic With Color-Changing Ice
You can find the butterfly pea flower tea for this recipe at Harney.com and many other sources online.
TOTAL TIME: 8 hours (includes freezing ice)
ACTIVE TIME: 10 minutes
SERVES: 1
F. MARTIN RAMIN/ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY MIEKO TAKAHASHI
Ingredients
For the blue ice:
-
- Butterfly pea flower tea, loose or in bags
For the cocktail:
- 2 ounces gin
- ½ ounce lime juice
- 3-4 ounces tonic water
Directions
- Make the blue ice: Steep loose dried butterfly pea flowers or butterfly pea flower tea bags in hot water according to package directions until liquid turns a bright blue color. Pour brewed tea into an ice mold and freeze until solid, at least 8 hours.
- Make the cocktail: Place blue ice in a wine goblet or other glass. Add all cocktail ingredients and watch the drink change color.
—Adapted from “The Ice Book: Cool Cubes, Clear Spheres, and Other Chill Cocktail Crafts” by Camper English (Red Lightning Books)
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