KEN GRAHAM: FROM THE PUBLISHER

Somewhere in China, many centuries ago, people discovered that frozen cream was pretty tasty. Over time, the treat known as cream ice, or “ice cream,” made its way to Europe – most likely to Italy first. Americans were eating ice cream in the Colonies in the early 1700s.

With triple-digit temperatures prevailing in the Touchet Valley this week, I figured this would be a great time to learn more about the perfect hot-weather treat. So to Google I went.

I found a website called icecream.com (how could there not be one), which provided some interesting facts:

The ice cream churn was invented in P...