Ice cream is one of the most popular desserts in the world.
It’s made from milk, cream, sugar, and flavourings. The earliest known recipe for ice cream was written in 1671.
Here are ten fun facts about ice cream:
1. The first recorded mention of ice cream was in a letter from an English nobleman, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, to his friend Edward Gibbon in 1718.
2. In 1776, George Washington paid $200 for two quarts of strawberry ice cream at Mount Vernon.
3. Thomas Jefferson had a soft spot for ice cream. He kept detailed records of his experiments with different flavours including vanilla, chocolate and pistachio.
4. Vanilla is the most popular flavour of ice cream in the United States followed by chocolate chip mint and cookies ‘n’cream.
5. When it’s hot outside, Americans eat more than 1 billion gallons (3785 million litres) of ice cream each year!
6. The largest scoop of ice cream weighed over 880 pounds (400 kg). It was made by Carvel Ice Cream Company on October 13th, 1988.
7. It takes 50 licks to finish a single scoop cone of ice-cream according to research done at Brigham Young University, Idaho.
8. There are approximately 100 calories in eight fluid ounces (240 ml) of whole milk, which is used as a base for many premium brands of ice cream.
9. In some parts Asia, people enjoy eating green tea flavoured or red bean paste flavoured ice cream instead of the Western style dessert.
10. National Ice Cream Day is celebrated every year on July 15th since 1984 when President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5219 designating it as such.
