Millennia before the invention of mechanical refrigeration, our ancestors were two for four with their streamlined periodic table of air, water, earth and fire. Because for many of us, the only elements that matter today are the aforementioned air and water (as ice), combined with some fat and a little liquid to produce the thing we all scream for: ice cream.

I learned this short ingredient list while ingesting ice cream information, as well as actual ice cream, during lectures on ice cream science at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston in February. I already considered myself an expert, thanks to my mentors, Ben and Jerry. But there was still a lot to be learned without inducing an ice cream headache.

This article was originally published with the title Cold Comfort.

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