Lemon Ice Box Pie, Mrs. Harry C. Michael

Next time you drop a few ice cubes into a cold beverage think of this: many early-20th-century consumers would be wary of your “artificial” ice. Unless of course, your ice happens to be harvested from a lake or a mountain somewhere.

The technology to create ice from water was first developed in the mid-1800s, but it caught on slowly. The ice trade continued to collect ice from natural stores and ship it around the country.

It’s no surprise that manufactured ice might scare consumers. Think of how strange it must have seemed. As always, industry had to sway the public. The Maryland Ice Company took out an ad in the Baltimore Sun in 1892 declaring that “manufactured ice is not only purer, but will last longer and produce equally as much cold as ‘natural ice.”

Apparently, this was still a concern in 1923 when an American Ice company ad in the Evening Sun explained to readers that “American Ice is… made from filtered water and frozen in sanitary plants,” and that it was “very real, absolutely pure Ice.” The ad stated that American Ice had nine plants in Baltimore “all making clean, pure, healthful ice.”

Whether you preferred “natural” ice or trusted newfangled manufactured ice, you had to keep it somewhere. Enter the icebox.

An added bonus of the kitchen icebox was the ability to make a pie that required little or no cooking in a sweltering kitchen, and which was refreshing when served.

The advent of home refrigerators only boosted the profile of the “ice box pie” even more – but the evocative name stuck.

Mrs. Harry C. Michael went with a classic pie flavor when she submitted this Lemon Ice Box Pie recipe to “Maryland’s Famous Receipts,” a 1952 cookbook produced by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Rosewood School. I couldn’t find out much about Mrs. Michael. I only know she was an eclectic cook. Her other recipes in the book were for: Creamed Chicken Alexis, Oysters & Spaghetti, Veal Chops En Casserole, Peach Ice Cream, and Pumpkin Pie.

Nowadays, we might think twice before eating a block of ice from the nearest cold locale. This is one time we are not likely to see a return to “all natural.” The ice box pie remains popular, especially in places where the temperatures demand a cool treat to sweeten a summer’s day.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• .5 Cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 lemon
• .5 Pint whipped cream
• 1 box vanilla wafers

Instructions:

3 egg yolks – beaten light
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice — grated rind
Cook until thick in double boiler. Beat 3 egg whites, add 1 T. sugar — 1/2 pt. whipped cream. Add to the cooled custard. Crush 1 box vanilla wafers — put 1/2 on bottom of ice tray and pour in above mixture — put rest of crumbs on top. Freeze — not too hard.

Recipe from Maryland’s Famous Receipts, The Woman’s Auxiliary of the Rosewood State Training School. Owings Mills, MD. 1952.