In the US, the UK and other countries in Europe, ice was brought in from Norway.
The Russians collected ice along the Neva River while the Indians got their share from the Himalayas.
The ice were stored in specially made buildings called ice houses and they lasted throughout the year.
This could be used simply to cool drinks, or allow ice-cream and sorbet desserts to be prepared.
Many disused egg shaped ice houses made from mud bricks still exist in Iran.
The ingenious Iranians, instead, made their own ice.
Behind each ice houses are long shallow channels where water is poured during the winter nights.
The channels were protected from heat during the day by shade walls.
At night, a thick layer of ice is formed over the surface.
This was broken and collected before the sun could rise and moved to the ice houses.
This was repeated each night until there was enough ice to last the next summer.
Several shaded walls, deep wells and cleverly constructed domes kept the heat out.
Some of the disused ice-houses has already been used as rubbish dumps.
