Volcanic Sorbet rise to Chocolate Ice Cream
In the Tlatoani (great ruler) era the Tehotihuacan and Xochimilca cultures in the Aztec Empire had ice brought from the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes to religious ceremonies during the spring equinox to prepare a sorbet with honey and regional fruits such as capulines, mamey and cocoa (which is a word that comes from the Mayan word “KaKaWa”). Ice runners wrapped ice in leather sacks and covered it with animal hides to transport the ice. Tlatoani Montezuma II used cocoa beans to prepared xocoatl (pronounced as shoh-KWAH-tul which means bitter water) that became the liquid chocolate flavored ice cream.
Later in the Colonial period milk was introduced to give rise to ice cream. It was made in a process known as nieve de garrafa or carafe sorbet, named after the steel containers in which it is prepared. The garrafa is placed in a wooden barrel with a wider diameter than the carafe to allow ice and salt to be poured between them. The bowl is constantly moved until the texture is thick like a sorbet.
Among the most exotic flavors made in Mexico are nopal or catus, garambullo (a juicy fruit from the blue myrtle-cactus), beet, prickly pear, gum, avocado, beer, tequila, mezcal, mole, and rose petals; as well as traditional flavors like redcurrant, walnut, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mandarin and mango.
Mexican ice cream, sweet tradition - México (velasresorts.com)
Montezuma's Ice Cream | Muzej čokolade Zagreb (muzejcokolade.hr)
Xocolatl and the History of Chocolate | Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles
Other Gelato Containers throughout CP Hadley Park with Bonus Info:
Mesopotamia 3000 BC - Origins of Ice Cream (GCA79WQ)
Egyptian Pharaohs 2500 BC: Sorbet (GCA79WW)
Greeks 500 BC: Nectar of the Gods (GCA79WZ)
China 200 BC: Rice Cream (GCA79WX)
Roman 0 AD: Volcano Snow (GCA79X1)
Turkey 1000 AD: Dondurma - Stretchy Ice Cream (GCA79X7)
Inca 1400 AD: Ice Cream (GCA79X5)
India 1500 AD: Kulfi (GCA79X3)
Spanish Ice Cream 1500 AD: Ice Cream Demon (GCA79X6)
Solve these Mysteries:
Coney Island, New York 1919: Frozen Custard (GCA79XC)
Talenti 1565: Gelato (GCA79XB)