Vanilla, chocolate, moose tracks and more! Whatever your favorite scoop is, ice cream is pretty amazing. In honor of National Ice Cream Month, here are 10 crazy facts about ice cream you didn’t know.
Interesting Facts About Ice Cream
- It takes 3 gallons of milk to produce 1 gallon of ice cream, meaning one cow can produce on average 2-3 gallons of ice cream per day!
- Slow down! We know ice cream is amazing, but so is brain freeze. When your mouth becomes cold, the blood vessels to your brain shrink. The faster the temperature drops, the more you feel it. That sudden traffic jam creates the discomfort you associate with brain freeze. If you can’t help but devour that scoop, press your tongue to the roof of your mouth to warm and expand your vessels again.
- Our Founding Fathers were ice cream fans! Once he took office, George Washington made sure his White House was stocked with ice cream making equipment. Perhaps he became a fan from another American leader. Discovering the treat abroad in France, Thomas Jefferson recorded one of the earliest vanilla ice cream recipes in America and regularly served the dessert while President.
- Maybe they loved it so much because of when it was introduced. The first ice cream parlor was introduced in New York City in 1776. Coincidence? We think not.
- Give it something extra! Chocolate syrup is the most popular ice cream topping.
- They’re serious about that flavor! Ice cream taste testers use gold spoons so the spoon’s metal won’t interfere with the flavor.
- It took a bit to trend! Ice cream didn’t become an everyday treat until cheap refrigeration became available.
- It gets tons of appreciation! July was deemed National Ice Cream Month in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan.
- We need to step up! The United States is only the second biggest ice cream fan. With an average of 7.5 gallons of ice cream consumed per person, New Zealand consumes more ice cream per capita than any other country!
- We have ice cream recipes to make at home! Head over to our desserts to find your next scoop—no machine required!