Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It is usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. It is typically sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes. Typically, flavourings and colourings are added in addition to stabilizers.
Let’s find out more facts about it!
1. The meaning of the phrase “ice cream” varies from one country to another. Phrases such as “frozen custard”, “frozen yogurt”, “sorbet”, “gelato” and others are used to distinguish different varieties and styles.
2. In some countries, such as the United States, the phrase “ice cream” applies only to a specific variety, and most governments regulate the commercial use of the various terms according to the relative quantities of the main ingredients, notably the amount of cream.
3. The mixture is stirred to incorporate air spaces and cooled below the freezing point of water to prevent detectable ice crystals from forming.
4. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures (<35 °F / 2 °C). It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.
5. Products that do not meet the criteria to be called ice cream are labelled “frozen dairy dessert” instead.
6. In other countries, such as Italy and Argentina, one word is used for all variants.
7. Analogues made from dairy alternatives, such as goat’s or sheep’s milk, or milk substitutes (e.g., soy milk or tofu), are available for those who are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy protein, or vegan.
8. Ice cream may be served in dishes, for eating with a spoon, or in cones, which are licked. Ice cream may be served with other desserts, such as apple pie. Ice cream is used to prepare other desserts, including ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes and even baked items, such as the Baked Alaska.
9. During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey and fruit in the markets of Athens. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice “as it livens the lifejuices and increases the well-being.”
10. In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special chilled food, made of rose water and vermicelli, which was served to royalty during summers. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours.
11. A frozen mixture of milk and rice was used in China around 200 BC.
12. “They poured a mixture of snow and saltpetre over the exteriors of containers filled with syrup, for, in the same way as salt raises the boiling point of water, it lowers the freezing point to below zero.”
13. The Roman Emperor Nero (37–68 AD) had ice brought from the mountains and combined it with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies.
14. In the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi, where it was used in fruit sorbets.
15. The average American eats 26 litres (45.8 pints) of ice-cream a year.
16. Worldwide, around 15 billion litres (3.3 billion gallons) of ice-cream are consumed every year, enough to fill 5,000 Olympic swimming pools.
17. According to Nasa, ice-cream is among the top three items most missed by astronauts on space missions. The others are pizza and fizzy drinks.
18. Hawaii and Wisconsin are the only US states with laws governing ice-cream container size.
19. The last thing Elvis Presley ate was four scoops of ice-cream and six chocolate chip cookies.
20. Marco Polo brought back from China descriptions of a sherbet dessert.
21. The cone didn’t appear until 1904, when a Syrian waffle maker at the St. Louis World’s Fair began rolling his pastries into horns to help an ice cream vendor who had run out of dishes.
22. The idea of the ice cream cone had been patented a year earlier, in 1903, by an Italian in New York City, but the fair popularized it.
23. Farmers in Vermont used to feed leftovers provided by Ben and Jerry’s to their hogs. The hogs didn’t seem to care for Mint Oreo Cookie.
24. Top-selling ice cream flavors are: vanilla, with 33 percent of the market, and chocolate, with 19 percent.
25. Chocolate syrup is the world’s most popular ice cream topping.
26. Ice cream became available to the general population in France in 1660.
27. Some weird flavors of ice cream include buckwheat ice cream, beer flavored ice cream, and Parmesan gelato.
28. In the early days of television, mashed potatoes were used to simulate ice cream on cooking shows. Real ice cream melted too fast under the heat from the lighting.
29. Rupert Grint’s first ambition was to be an “Ice Cream Man” and he bought an ice cream truck with the money he earned from Harry Potter movies.
30. Ben and Jerry’s has 46 flavors. Some retired flavors include White Russian, Rainforest Crunch, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Devil’s Food Chocolate.
31. The average number of licks to finish a scoop of ice cream is 50.
32. Ice cream headaches or “brain freeze” is the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain of the loss of heat.
33. Sugar in ice cream lowers its melting point, and the fats are responsible for its creamy texture.
34. About 9 percent of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream.
35. The Beatles had an ice cream flavor named after them by Baskin Robbins called Beatle Nut.
36. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of that month as National Ice Cream Day.
37. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was part of the team that first invented the method of making soft serve ice cream.
38. Market analysts confirmed that ice cream sales increase many times during times of recession or wars.
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