Ice cream seller at Khokand
During her Central Asian travels in the early 20th century Ella Christie encountered ice cream sellers at various places, including this one at Kokand, in present-day Uzbekistan. In fact, cream was not included among the ingredients, which comprised only frozen snow and raisin syrup. Ella Christie marvelled at the deftness with which an ice cream man in Samarkand made his ices, scraping some snow from a frozen block on to a brass platter, pouring a ladle of the syrup over it, and stirring the mixture with a flat wooden spoon. His produce was popular with customers of all ages, who paid for their treats with strange little oddly-shaped coins, which (for some unknown reason) the vendor stored in a bowl of water! A form of crushed ice mixed with yoghurt and honey is still sold today in Kashgar from street stalls like this one.
