Escapees July-August 2023

A perennial favorite, the popsicle, was a happy (and pro fi table) accident. Some say Frank Epperson, a lemonade hawker, left a glass of lemonade with a spoon in it on a windowsill one freezing New Jersey night, resulting in what he patented in 1924 as the Epsicle, now called the Popsicle. And, so it goes. The Science It makes sense. Beat the heat with an ice-cold treat. Why? When ingesting something cool on a hot day, the body undergoes a physiological response known as thermoregulation, helping it maintain its core temperature. Sweating and shivering also promote thermogenesis, but let’s face it, that is not nearly as fun as a popsicle. The latest take on ice cream as a thermo regulator is less than enthusiastic. It turns out that milk fat and sugar tend to heat the body during digestion, even though the tongue and the endorphins (pleasure hormones) released as we enjoy a cone or cup, give us an initial hit of cooling. The Recipes While I can still taste the icy tartness of my favorite, a lemon Italian ice (scraped into bites of snow with a wide wooden popsi cle-like stick), my ice cream truck days are behindme. But, I don’t fret. I’m a big girl now. I have a fully-functioning kitchen and I know how to use it. Nowadays, when the summer heat suggests a cool treat, I simply whip one up. And you can, too. These three summer coolers use fresh, seasonal ingredients, are easy to make and do not require any single-purpose appli ances (I’m looking at you, ice cream makers) that take up space in your RV. Go ahead, try them all, for scienti fi c purposes only, of course. EVANNE SCHMARDER is sure she got the wanderlust bug from her grandparents. In 2000, she and her husband, Ray, set o ff on their own adventure. Eighteen-plus years later, they’re still roaming the country, sharing interesting destinations and cooking up delicious RV kitchen recipes in their popular RV TV series, RVCookingShow.com.

Ah, those summer days of my childhood, fi lled with the sound of laughter and the smell of fresh cut grass. It was hot, but who cared? There were jacks to play and ropes to jump. With a few coins jingling in our pockets, my neighborhood pals and I would listen for that familiar mechanical music box announc ing the arrival of the eagerly anticipated ice cream truck. We set off on a sprint and impatiently lined up, all but devouring the pictures of screwballs, push-ups and bomb pops with our eyes while struggling to make that critical decision, what to order from the ice cream man. The Backstory Like all great inventions, cool concoctions have a long and storied history. The Chinese are believed to have created one of the fi rst sweet treats using crushed ice, fruit juice and possibly beer in 3000 BC. Several centuries later, around 200 BC, they froze milk and rice, creating a cold, creamy treat.

“When ingesting something cool on a hot day, the body undergoes a physiological response known as thermoregulation, helping it maintain its core temperature.”

Eleventh-century Persians enjoyed “sharbate,” a sweet, syrupy drink made with sugar, water, citrus and fl owers, often served over ice or snow, closely resembling what today we call granita. This treat made its way to Italy and was the genesis of sorbet. It was there, six centuries later, that the Italians (and eventually the French, thanks to Catherine de Medici) began freezing sweet cream and custards, ushering in what became known as iced creams. Fruit iced creams reigned the day, but fl oral fl avors, including rose, lavender and violet, were popular, too.

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ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2023