Once upon a time in the mid century era, dieters who didn't want to splurge on the calories of ice cream opted for the lower calorie, less fat choice, ice milk.
Ice cream came first. Ice cream, in a form that we would recognize, was first recorded in Naples, Italy in 1644. The first noted eating of ice cream in the US was at a 1744 dinner hosted by the governor of Maryland.
George Washington may have been a reluctant president. He may have insisted that he only serve two terms because he wanted to be decisive about preventing the presidency from becoming a monarchy. But he had not a shred of reluctance about ice cream.
In the summer of 1790, Washington spent $200 on ice cream, a sum that would equal $5,000 in modern money. In 1794, he bought a "cream machine" ice cream maker. In 1796, he bought himself his own special ice cream spoon. After his death, the inventory of his estate included a 306 piece ice cream serving set for fancy dinners with fancy people. (Read more about Washington and his ice cream here.)
Ice cream machine similar to what Washington owned, above.
The crank ice cream churn was invented in 1843. It took the labor out of producing consistently smooth ice cream. It was around that time that ice milk showed up.
Ice milk was at peak popularity in the mid century years here in the US. Not only did it have less fat and fewer calories, it was also less expensive. Because of the lower fat content, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required the name ice milk to differentiate it from richer ice cream.
It was also the original soft serve ice cream. When Dairy Queen inventor J.F. McCullough and Tom Carvel of Carvel's fame as well as other ice cream-preneurs were figuring out how to make machines that could continuously churn and serve ice cream, regular ice cream recipes with 10% butterfat wouldn't work. The fat separated out and froze onto the churning blades, jamming the motor. An ice milk recipe with 5% fat worked like a charm.
Eventually, in 1994, the FDA conceded that more appetizing names could be used for ice milk. Hence, if it has 25% less fat than ice cream, it can be called "reduced fat." If it has 50% less, it can be called "light" or "lite." If it's labeled "low fat," that means it has a maximum of 3 grams of fat. "Low fat" is the closest thing now to what ice milk was.
The Peter Pan ice cream and ice milk packages are a piece of New England ice cream history. Established in the early 1950s in Woonsocket, RI, the company came to be one of the largest wholesale distributor and contract maker of ice cream. One of the notable brands Peter Pan made was for Duncan Hines, a high end, ultra high butterfat deluxe supermarket brand.
The Peter Pan Ice Cream company closed in the late 1990s, but the memories live on for New Englanders of a certain age.
