According to popular legend, ice cream was invented by the ancient Chinese, brought to Italy by Marco Polo, to France by Catherine de Medici, and thence to America by Thomas Jefferson. The truth, however, about summer’s favorite chilled dairy treat is a bit more difficult to pin down.

Iced drinks and desserts have been around since at least 4000 B.C., when nobles along the Euphrates River built icehouses to take the edge off the Mesopotamian summer heat. Snow, likely used to cool wine, was sold in the streets of Athens in the fifth century B.C., while the Roman emperor Nero (A.D. 37–67) enjoyed iced refreshments laced with honey. Sources from the Tang dynasty in China describe a sweet drink made from iced, camphor-laced water buffalo milk.