The Founding Father Who Had Ice Cream Specially Churned For Independence Day

America's first POTUS was George Washington, but the title of First Foodie undoubtedly goes to Thomas Jefferson. This globe-trotting gourmet brought back a taste for fine French food after having served as a minister to that country, and he also helped popularize macaroni and cheese. Although Jefferson didn't invent mac and cheese – its creation may have roots in medieval Northern Italy or Ticino, Switzerland  — nor did he cook any of these dishes himself, they would have appeared on Jefferson's table courtesy of enslaved kitchen workers such as James Hemings.

Another dish often associated with Jefferson is ice cream. Both he and Washington were American presidents that loved to eat dessert and were early adopters of the frozen treat. Ice cream may have ancient origins, but it became popular in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. During his own tenure as president (1801 to 1809), Jefferson served ice cream to White House guests at least half a dozen times, and, on one occasion, it featured in a holiday celebration.

On July 4, 1806, when the nation was celebrating its 30th anniversary, Jefferson cranked up the ice cream maker and designated an attendant to keep churning it all day long. (It would have been nice if he'd hired two so they could switch off to prevent arm fatigue.) The necessary ice was supplied from the icehouse that he'd had built on the White House grounds. We don't know for sure whether this construction project was designed specifically for the facilitation of ice cream production, but Jefferson's fondness for the stuff makes that a distinct possibility.

Despite the fact that he had servants (enslaved or otherwise) to do his cooking. Thomas Jefferson's interest in food was so intense that there are still a few recipes out there that he copied in his own handwriting. One of these, which is currently housed in the Library of Congress, is for ice cream. Back in Jefferson's day, ice cream came in many flavors that we'd now consider rather unusual, such as artichoke, celery, cheese, musk, and oyster. The Sage of Monticello, however, went with something more classic: vanilla.

Vanilla may seem like the most basic variation, but it wasn't the first known ice cream flavor. Among the candidates for the first frozen dessert include variants flavored with honey and camphor. Still, it's a good, solid choice, then as now. Jefferson, however, didn't opt for plain vanilla, since his recipe also includes egg yolks. This inclusion makes it more akin to what we now call French vanilla.

Jefferson's recipe is a simple one with just four ingredients: cream, egg yolks, sugar, and a vanilla bean. (He was known to have imported vanilla beans from France for the specific purpose of flavoring ice cream.) The proportions, however, aren't immediately clear, since the Library of Congress recipe calls for "two bottles" of cream along with six yolks and 8 ounces of sugar. Modern cooks, however, have interpreted "bottles" as quarts and have been successful using that measurement.