There aren’t many things that sound as delicious as a scoop of ice cream when it’s hot outside. There is no doubt that, since its birth, ice cream has won the hearts of millions of people around the world.
Every country has its own flavors and varieties, making it almost impossible to find a person who doesn’t love ice cream. Let’s scoop up its history and discover some of the fun facts about ice cream.
1. Origin of Ice Cream
Although the origin of ice cream is still unknown, the history of this dessert dates back to ancient China, more than 3,000 years ago. It’s believed that rich Chinese families used to welcome their guests with sweet juices mixed with ice. It was King Tang of Shang who was said to have almost 100 ice men on staff to make his favorite dessert, a mixture of buffalo milk, flour and camphor!
Here’s a list of some more historical facts about ice cream.
- Milk-based ice creams were made by Arabs in the 10th century. Some people also used nuts, rosewater, and dried fruits in different ice cream recipes at that time.
- There is a rumor that ancient Roman Emperor Nero sent slaves to get snow to mix with his sweetmeats!
- Ice cream was introduced to Europe in the late 13th century by the famous explorer, Marco Polo.
- The first known ice cream recipe was written by Lady Anne Fanshawe in 1665.
- Ice cream was brought to America in the early 1700s. Some claim that it was Thomas Jefferson who brought it over from Europe, but this is false. American President George Washington was a hige fan and spent a fortune on it. Thomas Jefferson had his recipe for vanilla ice cream.
- Nancy Johnson was the inventor of the first ice cream maker in 1843.
- An ice cream vendor, Arnold Fomachou, ran out of bowls in 1904 at the World’s Fair in St. Louis so he started using cones to serve ice cream. That’s how ice cream cones were invented. The waffle cone came later!
2. National Month of Ice Cream
In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month in recognition of the nation’s penchant for this frozen dessert. Now every year, the third Sunday of July is celebrated as National Ice Cream Day.
3. Most Popular Ice Cream Topping
There are countless topping types that people use with ice cream, but the chocolate syrup is the most popular one. Other popular toppings include strawberry, apple, pineapple, marshmallow, butter pecan, butterscotch, and hot fudge.
4. Country with Most Avid Ice Cream Eaters
Although it bats back and forth from year to year between a few nations, New Zealand is the winner in 2022 which consumes the most ice cream per capita. According to statistics, each person in New Zealand consumes about 28.4 liters of ice cream each year. After that the United States comes close at 20.8!
5. Amount of Milk
You need to use 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of milk to produce just one gallon (4.5 liters) of ice cream. An average cow produces about 64 pounds of milk in a single day. It means that you can create 5.3 gallons (20 liters) of goodness daily if you have only one cow.
6. Unique Ice Cream Recipes
Ice cream is made in many types including gelato, sherbet, reduced-fat ice cream, frozen yogurt, frozen custard, buffalo milk, vegan and regular ice cream. But there are some unique recipes that you might not have heard of.
Charlie Harry Francis, an award-winning Edible Inventor, created a champagne-flavored ice cream recipe dosed with Viagra. He crafted this recipe for celebrities who wanted to offer something special to their guests at parties.
Another unique ice cream recipe is called Faloodeh, usually served in Iran and Pakistan. The origin of this dessert dates back to the Persian Empire. It consists of semi-frozen vermicelli noodles added to the mixture of sweet syrup and rosewater.
The flavor of Faloodeh is pretty similar to Turkish delight and baklava, and it’s usually topped with chopped nuts, saffron, and lime juice.
7. Natural Ice Cream
There’s a type of tree called Pacay Tree that offers fruit, which tastes pretty similar to vanilla ice cream. This tree is usually grown in the Andean valleys of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The pod-like fruit of the Pacay tree is filled with cottony and sweet white pulp and dark-colored beans packed with nutrients. Not only is this fruit consumed on its own, but it’s also used to make an alcoholic drink called cachiri, which offers a taste similar to cider.
8. Tallest Ice Cream Cone
The tallest ice cream cone in the world was created by family-owned Norwegian company, Henning-Olsen. This ice cream cone measured a staggering 3.5 yards or 3.2 meters. In addition, the total weight of this cone was over a ton and it was filled with more than 1,080 liters or 238 gallons of ice cream.
The weight of the cone with ice cream was a whopping 110 kilograms and it had 10,800 two-scoop servings. This gigantic ice cream cone was topped with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.
9. Largest Ice Cream Sundae and the Smallest
The largest ice cream sundae was made on 24th July 1988 by Palm Dairies in Alberta Canada, and it weighed 54,917 pounds or 24.91 tons. It set a Guinness world record, which is still unbeaten, for the largest ice cream sundae ever. Who knows the average number of licks that would take to eat!
This smallest was known as a Penny Lick which was a tiny glass for serving one scoop of ice cream in usually seen in London and abroad!
10. World War II Celebration
Soldiers celebrated the end of World War II by eating ice cream. This delicious treat helped soldiers throughout the war maintain high morale. In 1945, the US Navy spent about $1 million to create an ice cream factory from a concrete barge.
The purpose of this factory was to deliver pints of ice cream to ships that were incapable of producing their own.
11. Most Popular Ice Cream Flavor
According to statistics, the most popular flavor of ice cream is vanilla and it’s the most commonly consumed ice cream flavor across the globe. Additionally, it’s also the most Instagrammed flavor as well, followed by matcha, coconut and chocolate ice cream.
12. Blue Law About Ice Cream
There used to be a Blue Law about ice cream in the late 1800s that made it illegal to sell ice cream sodas on Sundays because of some religious purposes. To counter this law, shop owners began selling ice cream sundaes.
They started using syrup instead of soda and replaced the letter “Y” with “E” in the word “Sunday”. That’s how ice cream sundaes came into existence.
13. Brain Freeze
The dreaded ice cream headache you get something cold. Technically the medical name for Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia. What actual happens is that your body goes into panic mode and is trying to warm itself up, so blood vessels in your head expand to let more blood in to create warmth. That’s why it hurts! Still there are things you can do it make it stop:
- Stop eating it – which is never going to happen
- Drink something warm
- Press your thumb against the roof of your mouth
The cherry on the top!
Ice cream is a delicious, refreshing dessert that both young and old enjoy. Connoisseurs have created a variety of intriguing new flavors to try over the years, including one of my favorites, Ben & Jerry’s. Even though some flavors are preferred over others, the fondness for this frozen delight never wanes. I always have a gallon of ice cream in my freezer at all times.
After reading all these fun and interesting facts about ice cream, you must be longing to eat this dessert. So, go out with your family or friends and enjoy your favorite ice cream flavor.
List of ice cream parlors around the world
Try ice cream in these places:
