“So did you find the ice cream so tasty that you decided leaving the empty bowls on the table will attest to how good it was?” Grandma inquired. “ What are you teaching these kids of yours Sasha? I taught you better than that!!! But anyway, I do not blame you at all. There's only one person to blame and that's old uncle Augustus Jackson and his improved methods of making ice cream. He made it finger licking good.” “But grandma isn't that the KFC slogan? And I think you'd need a spoon to have ice cream,” May said. “ Hmm that she knows,” Grandma retorted pointing at May. “ The point is a black man, made ice cream better.”

Granted, Augustus Jackson did not invent ice cream as some might think, for ice cream goes back as the second century B.C given as Alexander the Great of Macedonia was known to enjoy a honey and nectar flavored snow and ice. What Jackson did however, is invent a way to make ice cream melt slower by adding salt to it. This was after he had left his job as a White House chef in the late 1820s. I'm talking about someone who according to Black past.com worked for Presidents like James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and also prepared formal meals for visiting dignitaries!!!!! He left to open a catering business in Philadelphia where he also experimented with ice cream flavors.

While most European ice creams were egg based, Jackson chose to make those with endless custard and added salt which made it not only freeze better, but also tastier. His ice cream was distributed in tin cans to individuals and Ice cream parlors in Philadelphia and it went for $1.00 per quart. That was a pretty sum back then but they still sold out fast. Capper's Weekly in 1928 credited him as the first to make modern ice cream.

Did you know they called him the “ Father Of Ice Cream”? As they should because like I said, those flavors of his had our forefather crying like Oliver Twist which enabled Augustus Jackson to expand his shop that was on Goodwater Street. He also became one of the wealthiest African Americans in Philadelphia. Sadly there is no record of Jackson patenting his ice cream making process.

“ Strawberry, chocolate, vanilla ice cream / Old Augustus Jackson’s got an ice cream machine / He puts in a little flavor, sugar and ice / Then he mixes it with salt and cream / It tastes real nice” was a song we used to sing as children in honor of old Augustus Jackson. So with every tasty ice cream you have, remember a black man whose name might not be in the International Dairy Foods Association’s history, made ice cream better. Though this shouldn't stop you from clearing this table!!!!! Tomorrow, I'll you about Africa’s Brian Gitta and his bloodless Malaria test.