Kensington Palace Recreates 300-Year-Old Ice Cream Recipe From The Georgian Era

On Friday, August 21, the U.K.'s Kensington Palace will host Queen Caroline's Garden Party, an annual event celebrating "the glittering Georgian court of King George II and his fascinating wife Queen Caroline," circa 1732.

The immersive weekend festival will celebrate all things Georgian, including a 300-year-old ice cream recipe that calls for just two buckets, some ice, and a little salt. "This actually works far more effectively than a freezer," food historian Tasha Marks told The Telegraph. "Ice cream was the cutting edge of technology back then." The simple method actually turns the ingredients into ice cream in less an hour — approximately 45 minutes, in fact.

Georgian ice creams, by the way, were quite experimental in terms of flavor combinations — there were plenty of options, from rose sorbet and pistachio with lemon and cinnamon to lemon and brandy to a perplexing asparagus ice cream, in circulation in the 1700s.

At the garden party, at least two Georgian-era flavors will be available: chocolate "water ice," or sorbet, and orange blossom with apricot. You probably can't sample these ice creams unless you're at Kensington Palace this weekend, but you can learn more about Georgian ice cream at AVM Curiosities