<P> Ice cream may be served in dishes, for eating with a spoon, or in cones, which are licked . Ice cream may be served with other desserts, such as apple pie . Ice cream is used to prepare other desserts, including ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream cakes and even baked items, such as the Baked Alaska . </P> <P> During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens . The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice "as it livens the life - juices and increases the well - being ." </P> <P> In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special chilled food, made of rose water and vermicelli, which was served to royalty during summers . The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours . </P> <P> A frozen mixture of milk and rice was used in China around 200 BC . "They poured a mixture of snow and saltpetre over the exteriors of containers filled with syrup, for, in the same way as salt raises the boiling point of water, it lowers the freezing point to below zero ." </P>

When was ice cream invented and by who