Oyster ice cream is a flavor of

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

with a savory taste. After being recorded in a 19th-century cookbook, then forgotten for the next two centuries, the ice cream flavor has been offered at a number of 21st-century oyster festivals.

History

The only historical source for oyster ice cream is found in

Mary Randolph Mary Randolph (August 9, 1762 – January 23, 1828) was a Southern American cook and author, known for writing ''The Virginia House-Wife; Or, Methodical Cook'' (1824), one of the most influential housekeeping and cook books of the 19th century. ...

's cookbook, ''The Virginia Housewife'', published in 1824. The recipe is as follows:

OYSTER CREAM Make a rich soup, (see directions for oyster soup,) strain it from the oysters, and freeze it.

OYSTER SOUP Wash and drain two quarts of oysters, put them on with three quarts of water, three onions chopped up, two or three slices of lean ham, pepper and salt; boil it till reduced one-half, strain it through a sieve, return the liquid into the pot, put in one quart of fresh oysters, boil it till they are sufficiently done, and thicken the soup with four spoonsful of flour, two gills of rich cream, and the yelks of six new laid eggs beaten well; boil it a few minutes after the thickening is put in. Take care that it does not curdle, and that the flour is not in lumps; serve it up with the last oysters that were put in. If the flavour of thyme be agreeable, you may put in a little, but take care that it does not boil in it long enough to discolour the soup.

Contrary to various news reports in the 21st century, oyster ice cream was ''not'' served at the First Thanksgiving, nor was it a favorite of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

's, nor served in the White House by

Dolley Madison Dolley Todd Madison (née Payne; May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of bo ...

, nor mentioned by Mark Twain in his novel ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...

''.

21st century

According to chef and restaurateur

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish chef, and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. A Spanish-born and raised cook, he is often credited with b ...

, oyster ice cream is made by "gently heating

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

s and

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

", before freezing the product. Food historian Robert Brantley describes the oyster ice cream of the 1800s as “ sentially...frozen oyster chowder. They served it unsweetened." Oyster ice cream has a savory flavor as opposed to a sweet one. Lorraine Eaton of ''

The Virginian-Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgini ...

'' wrote that one of her colleagues at work "had nearly thrown up" after tasting Eaton's homemade oyster ice cream; others had favorable criticism for the ice cream flavor. Two varieties of oyster ice cream were featured at the Colchester Oyster Festival in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, in September 2012. "Oyster-and-ginger" ice cream was served at the 23rd Oyster Festival in Arcata Main Street in June 2013.KCRW's Good Food Video Blog features Chef Kyle Schutte making oyster ice cream using liquid nitrogen.
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References

External links

The Long, Weird History and Mythology of Oyster Ice Cream
{{Oysters Flavors of ice cream Oyster dishes

History

21st century

See also

References

External links