National Ice Cream Day
Friday, July 14th, 2023
Sunday, July 16th, is National Ice Cream Day! Will you celebrate with a classic cone or a new dairy-free ice cream flavor? There are too many options! Ice cream is a popular frozen dairy food. It consists mostly of milk products, sugar, and flavorings. Ice cream may be served by itself or with cake, pie, or other pastries. It also is used in making milk shakes, sodas, cake rolls, and sundaes. Ice cream sandwiches are popular since they do not require a spoon or bowl! Manufacturers make ice cream in many flavors. About one-third of the ice cream sold in the United States is vanilla. Chocolate and Neapolitan (layers of different flavors) rank next in popularity.
The United States produces about 1.4 billion gallons (5.3 billion liters) of ice cream annually. Almost one-tenth of the nation’s milk supply is used to produce ice cream and other frozen desserts. These desserts include ice milk, sherbet, and frozen yogurt. About 7 quarts (6.6 liters) of milk are needed to make 4 quarts (3.8 liters) of ice cream.
Ice cream is served in many parts of the world, but Americans eat more of it than do the people of any other country. Americans eat an average of about 23 quarts (21.8 liters) of ice cream annually.
The milk products in ice cream make it rich in calcium, phosphorus, protein, and vitamin A. Ice cream is also high in calories because of the carbohydrates and fats it contains. There is also a great deal of sugar in ice cream. Many dairy-free options have populated grocery aisles as more and more people are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is a condition in which a person feels discomfort after eating or drinking dairy products.
Most of the ice cream consumed today comes from commercial manufacturing sources. But some people still enjoy making their own ice cream at home. The first step in making ice cream consists of combining the two chief ingredients—milk products and sugar—to form a mix. The following steps include freezing and adding air to the mixture. In some ice creams, about half of its volume is made up by air! If manufacturers don’t add air, ice cream would be like a milky ice cube!
No one knows when ice cream was first made. In 1295, the Italian trader Marco Polo returned to Europe from China and may have brought recipes for water ices. During the 1600′s, Europeans used a combination of ice, snow, and a mineral called saltpeter to freeze mixtures of cream, fruit, and spices.
British colonists probably brought recipes for ice cream to America in the early 1700′s. Ice cream became a popular luxury food, but almost all of it was made at home until 1851. That year, Jacob Fussell, a Baltimore milk dealer, established the first ice cream plant. Ice cream became a national favorite during the early 1900′s after soda fountains introduced sodas, sundaes, and other new ways of serving it. Ice cream cones were first served at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Ice cream bars appeared in 1921. Ice cream production increased greatly in the late 1940′s. During the first decade of the 2000′s, the United States produced about 1.4 billion gallons (5.3 billion liters) of ice cream yearly.