Cold desserts made with ice, usually called just ''ice desserts'', and ice-cream were two treats that were paired in a category of their own when they first appeared in Thailand. They are close culinary relatives that have had similar careers in the history of Thai food, and both have evolved in response to changing tastes since their introduction. Today, the old ice desserts once so popular in Thailand are like people from earlier generations. When they can still be found they teach much about their era, and there are people who still enjoy them, including those from younger generations.
COLD COMFORT: A refreshing dish of ‘ice-cream kai kaeng’.
Ice first came to Thailand towards the end of King Rama IV's reign. A high-level official of Chinese descent who owned commercial ships that travelled between Bangkok and Singapore brought some from Singapore to present to the king, after which it was esteemed as a valuable modern innovation at the royal court.
In 1867, at the end of his reign, King Rama IV invited ambassadors and foreign guests to view a solar eclipse at Prachuap Khiri Khan province, which was then largely jungle bordering on the sea. One diplomat who had been invited wrote that the place where they stayed to watch the eclipse was isolated and quiet, but that elegant Western-style food was prepared by a French chef, and was served with fine wine. He also noted that there was plenty of ice.
Later, during the reign of King Rama V, ice factories began to appear in Thailand, but its consumption was still limited to the wealthy. Once ice became more available, hand-cranked ice-cream makers followed, but no descriptions survive of what the ice-cream served in the palace was like, or what recipes were used.
About 80 years ago, ice factories began to appear in communities throughout the central region and other major provinces. Thais began to make ice desserts for sale. The first one to become popular was made by chipping ice from a block using a device made by setting a blade in a wooden base to make a tool similar to the ''rabbit'' used to shred coconut from the shell. The ice chips fell into a receptacle placed below. The second ingredient needed was a sweet liquid, called nam chueam, made by dissolving palm sugar in hot water until the mixture became viscous. When cane sugar appeared, it too was used to make nam chueam, so that there were two different types.
Various kinds of sweets were made from these basic ingredients. Sometimes fruit such as sugar palm fruit, pineapple, banana or mango were simmered in the syrup, while other fruits, jackfruit or young coconut, for example, were used fresh. Dessert ingredients made from flour might also be included, lawt chong (soft, green-coloured, pandanus-scented, noodle-like bits) or salim (long, hair-like strands in bright colours), for example. Khao tom nam woon (sticky rice formed into bite-sized, triangular morsels and boiled) was another option. All of these variants fell into two categories depending on the type of syrup used. The types that featured fruit cooked in syrup used the cane sugar syrup, while those that included starchy ingredients such as lawt chong or salim were made with palm sugar syrup.
In addition to the syrup, another sweet liquid was the bottled soft drink, which in its first days in Thailand came in three colours _ red (flavoured like the sala, or Zalachia fruit), yellow (orange) or green (''soda''-flavoured, also extremely sweet). Red was the most popular of them. It figured in a very popular sweet called khanom pang yen, or ''cold bread''. A slice of bread was cut into squares, set on top of some chipped ice, doused with the red soda and then topped with condensed milk. It became a Thai snack classic.
The use of ice was not limited to sugary desserts. Old-fashioned coffee shops that brewed coffee using a cloth bag used it to chill the coffee-based drink called olieng. Ice was also added to freshly brewed coffee sweetened with condensed milk to make iced coffee. Children liked to drink a beverage made by mixing condensed milk with hot water and red syrup, pouring it into a glass filled with ice, and adding milk to make nom yen.
In making the first type of ice-cream eaten by ordinary people in Thailand, ice was only used to make the ingredients freeze to hardness. These included coconut cream, cane sugar and the floral scent called klin dawk nam nom maew. The result resembled sherbet in consistency and was served with peanuts sprinkled on top.
Later came the cylindrical sticks known as ice-cream lawt, or tube ice-cream. It was made in round bamboo moulds from ingredients that included fruit cooked in a mixture of coconut cream and palm or coconut sugar with red or black beans, taro, or a combination of lawt chong, salim, corn and jackfruit. It was delicious and has been a long-time favourite with Thais.
The first ice-cream in Thailand that was made with milk, called ice-cream thaeng, was prepared from a mixture of milk and sugar that was frozen into long round cylinders. When it was sold, the ice cream was removed from a refrigerated container, a length of it was cut off, a bamboo stick was inserted into it, and it was presented to the customer. Children liked it because of what was then its strange new taste.
In making ice-cream for sale in those days it wasn't necessary only to prepare it in quantity, it also had to be carried around to sell in different neighbourhoods. Chinese restaurants often offered home-made ice-cream for sale. It was made with dairy cream and was known as ice-cream kai kaeng _ ''hard egg ice-cream''. A hen's egg was pushed down into the ice-cream and allowed to freeze. When a customer asked, it was included in the serving. A shop that was famous for its ice-cream kai kaeng was a place near Saphan Lek on Charoen Krung Road.
Ice-cream in Thailand entered a new era when a businessman opened an ice-cream shop called Pop at the now-gone Chalerm Thai cinema on Ratchadamnoen Road. People went there either to pass time while waiting for a film to start, or just to enjoy the ice-cream. Many flavours and specialities were available _ vanilla, chocolate and coffee ice cream could be ordered plain by the scoop or made into banana splits or milk shakes. The owner later opened an ice-cream factory on Ratchaprasong Road that sold its product under the brand name Pet (duck), which was a Thai favourite for many years before Foremost, a foreign brand, eclipsed it. Internal problems at the Pet company eventually closed it down.
These are a few of the cold sweets, ice desserts and ice-creams, that have been eaten in Thailand. Their history has been a long one, and many of them have disappeared over time with changing tastes. The first version of ice-cream to appear in the country is now gone, although ''cold bread'' can still be found because the old-guard sweet-sellers who made it years ago still offer it, and older people come to buy. Some younger people introduced to this dessert and others by older relatives continue to enjoy them, too. They survive as windows into Thailand's culinary past.
