On this day, the first advertisement for ice cream in America appeared in the New York Gazette, when confectioner Philip Lenzi announced that ice cream was available ‘almost every day’. It was, however, a novelty product reserved for the wealthy due to the expensive ingredients required to make it. The cream itself was not a problem, but sugar was still a luxury as the process of turning sugar cane into sugar was extremely labour intensive. Also, it was not always easy to have access to ice. It was not until the arrival of various technological innovations towards the middle of the 19th century, that the manufacture of ice cream finally turned into a flourishing industry and ice cream became available to the general public at an affordable price.
