Harvest of the Cold Months

Elizabeth David explores the fascinating history of ice, from its luxurious use in sixteenth-century Medici banquets and seventeenth-century French courts to its role in the sherbet trade and as 'table jewelry.' The book delves into travelers' accounts of snow pits and ice houses in Persia, the influential ice trade in Boston, and the growth of the ice cream business in London. This impressive work brings to life the centuries when ice was a rare commodity that captivated the human imagination.