The earliest ice cubes in ancient times were not made. Instead, the winter ice was cut into pieces with ice trowels and stored in a previously dug cellar. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, artisans discovered that saltpeter could absorb heat and reduce the surrounding temperature to form ice, and since then, ice making with saltpeter has appeared. China has a history of over 3, years for storing ice in ancient times.

how to make ice cubes in ancient times

In ancient China, ice cubes were not made at the earliest, but were all stored. The ancients used the cold weather in winter to cut the frozen water into small pieces with ice trowels, and then transported it to the cellar dug in advance for preservation, so that there was ice.

The ancients began to make ice cubes at the end of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, craftsmen mined a lot of saltpeter when producing gunpowder. By chance, they found that saltpeter absorbed a lot of heat after dissolving in water, and then cooled the surrounding water temperature to form ice. From then on, people began to use saltpeter to make ice.

The function of ancient ice cubes

Before saltpeter ice making was discovered, it was difficult for water to freeze in the south because of the high temperature in winter, and it was also very difficult to transport ice cubes from the south to the north, so it was difficult to have ice in the south in summer. Since the discovery of saltpeter ice making, you can also eat iced food in summer in the south, which is convenient for people's lives.