Eli5: How did people make and keep ice in medieval times, and how do we manufacture ice cubes now ?
In: Technology
Now a days it’s mostly just large refrigeration units that are just upscaled version of your home freezer.
Persians developed yahkchal around 400 bc that used evaporative and radiative cooling and a bunch of insulation to create essentially a refrigerated warehouse that could store ice pretty much year round, some were even used to produce ice. They required a fairly specific climate to function namely a dry desert with cold nights and a steady supply of cool water, typically supplied by aqueducts. Some of them used large shallow outdoor pools to freeze water in the cooler months and stored it inside as blocks through the warmer ones. Lot of these were still in regular use right up until electricity and modern refrigeration became commonplace.
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