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101 Facts About Ice Cream in 2023

 
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How much do you know about ice cream? As the temperatures rise and the sun beats down, there's nothing quite like the sweet, cool taste of ice cream to refresh the body and lift the spirits. But did you know this delicious dessert has a rich and fascinating history spanning centuries and continents? From its humble origins in ancient China to its status as a beloved treat enjoyed worldwide today, ice cream has a story to tell that is as complex and diverse as the flavors themselves. In this article, we'll dive deep into the world of ice cream, exploring 101 fascinating facts, historical tidbits, and surprising statistics that will make you see this frozen dessert in a whole new light. Whether you're a journalist looking for a source of information or simply a lover of all things sweet and creamy, this article is sure to leave you hungry for more!

 

We know finding facts and figures about ice cream can be time-consuming and frustrating, so we put together this list of the top 101 facts, notes, and statistics so you can easily reference them and refer back to them any time in the future.  This space is constantly changing, so if you see a fact that is not up-to-date, feel free to let us know. And if you know a stat we should add, let us know too!


1. Before Milk-Based Ice Creams Were Introduced In The 10th Century, This Summer Treat Was Indeed Made From Ice.

2. The Spreading Of American-Made Ice Cream For Military Troops During World War II Was A Moment When The Entire World Accepted Ice Cream As A Perfect Summer-Time Treat.

3. The Largest Worldwide Consumption Of Ice Cream Is In The United States. There, One Average Person Consumes 48 Pints Of Ice Cream Per Year.

4. 90% Of American Households Eat Ice Cream.

5. The Biggest Ice Cream Sundae Was Created In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada In 1988. It Weighed 24 Tons.

6. Ice Cream Recipe Came To North America 250 Years After It Was Discovered By Christopher Columbus.

7. The Most Popular Flavor Of Ice Cream Is Vanilla. After It Comes Chocolates, Strawberries, Cookies N’ Cream, And Others.

8. Ice Cream Cones Were Invented During The 1904 World's Fair In St. Louis When Large Demand Forced Ice Cream Vendors To Find Help From Nearby Waffle Vendors. Together They Made History.

9. One Of The Most Unusual Ice Cream Flavors Is Hot Dog Flavored Ice Cream That Was Created In Arizona, Us.

10. Over Her Entire Lifetime, One Dairy Cow Can Produce Enough Milk For 9,000 Gallons Of Ice Cream!

11. The Most Profitable Day For Ice Cream Sellers Is Almost Always Sunday.

12. Continental Europe Was Introduced With Ice Cream In The Late 13th Century With Marko Polo Returning To Italy With His Tales Of Travel In China.

13. Largest Ice Cream Cake Weighed 12,096 Pounds.

14. The United States Produces Most Ice Cream In The World.

15. Historians Remember That Alexander The Great (356-323 Bc) Loved To Eat Snow Flavored With Nectar And Honey.

16. Hawaii Is Home To An “Ice Cream Bean”, A Fruit That Tastes Like Vanilla Ice Cream.

17. In The United States, July Is Deemed To Be "National Ice Cream Month".

18. Market Analysts Confirmed That Ice Cream Sales Increase Many Times During Times Of Recession Or War.

19. Most Favorite Ice Cream Topping Is Chocolate Syrup.

20. One Cone Of Ice Cream Can Be Finished Off In 50 Licks.

21. California Is The Larger Producer Of Ice Cream In The United States. In 2003 They Alone Made 121 Million Gallons Of This Cold Treat.

22. Standard Ice Cream Machines Have 3 Levers. Two For Flavors And One For Twisting.

23. The French Population Started Eating Ice Cream Openly In 1660.

24. It Takes 12 Gallons Of Milk To Create One Gallon Of Ice Cream.

25. Over $21 Billion Dollars Is Moved By The Ice Cream Industry In The United States Alone.

26. Ice Cream's “Brain Freeze” Effect Is Triggered When Cold Ice Touches The Roof Of Your Mouth, Which Causes Blood Vessels In The Head To Dilate.

27. End Of The World War II Was Celebrated By Eating Ice Cream.

28. There Are 273 Calories In One Cup Of Vanilla Ice Cream.

29. Ice Cream Can Be Made In Many Types – Ordinary Ice Cream, Frozen Custard, Frozen Yogurt, Reduced-Fat Ice Cream, Sherbet, Gelato, And Others.

30. Ice Cream Was Invented In China

31. New Zealand Consumes The Most Ice Cream Per Capita

32. Iran Makes Noodle Ice Cream

33. It Takes A Weighty 12 Pounds Of Milk To Make One Gallon Of Ice Cream

34. Nature’s Own Ice Cream Exists In South America

35. A Norwegian Company Made The Biggest Ice Cream Cone Ever

36. Coconut Milk Ice Cream Is Traditional In Indonesia

37. Vanilla Ice Cream Is, Statistically, The Most Instagrammable

38. You’ll Find Some Of The Weirdest Ice Cream Flavors In Japan

39. You Don’t Have To Have An Ice Cream Maker To Make Ice Cream

40. Most Ice Cream Companies Are Family Owned

41. The World Record For The Tallest Ice Cream Cone Was 3.08 Meters

42. In Order To Make 1 Gallon Of Ice Cream, You Need 3 Gallons Of Milk

43. The Largest Ice Cream Shop In The World Is In The United Kingdom

44. Chocolate Ice Cream Was Invented Before Vanilla

45. The Very First Place To Produce Ice Cream Commercially Was Boston, Ma

46. The World Record Ice Cream Scoop Weighed 3,010 Lbs.

47. Ice Cream Sundae Was Invented To Increase Sales Of Ice Cream On Sunday

48. President Roosevelt Loved Ice Cream

49. A Regular Serving Of Ice Cream Has 7.26 Grams Of Fat In It

50. According To Cornell University, 9% Of The Us Produced Milk Is Used To Make Ice Cream 

51. One Cow Produces Enough Milk In One Day To Make Around 2 Gallons Of Ice Cream

52. Most Of The Vanilla That Is Used To Make Ice Cream Comes From Madagascar And Indonesia

53. The Largest Collection Of Ice Cream Freezers Is In Arkansas

54. In Order To Make Ice Cream, Milk Must Have At Least 10% Fat

55. Milk Must Also Contain 20% Milk Solids

56. Finished Ice Cream Should Weigh Roughly 4.5 Lbs Per Gallon Of Finished Product

57. The Very First Ice Cream Parlor Opened In New York City

58. Ancient Greeks Enjoyed A Dessert Similar To Ice Cream

59. When Ice Cream Was First Brought To The Americas, It Was Only Enjoyed By The Elite

60. There Are More Than 1.4 Billion Gallons Of Ice Cream And Frozen Desserts Produced In The Us

61. If There Is At Least 1.4% Egg Yoke, Ice Cream Can Be Called A Custard Or “French”

62. In The Late 1700s, The Earliest Known Mechanical Ice Cream Maker Was Created. Then George Washington Purchased It.

63. In 1843, Nancy Johnson Received The First Us Patent For The Hand-Cranked Ice Cream Freezer.

64. Robert Mccay Green Invented Ice Cream Sodas In Philadelphia In 1874.

65. Historians Believe That Thomas Jefferson Was The First American To Write The Ice Cream Recipe For Vanilla-Flavored Ice Cream.

66. The Top Ice Cream-Loving Countries Around The World Include New Zealand, The United States, Germany, Italy, China, And Brazil

67. According To Guinness, Norway Scored The World Record For The Most Oversized Ice Cream Cone Ever Made In 2015, With A Cone Of Over 10 Feet!

68. Guinness Recorded The World’s Giant Ice Cream Sundae In 1988 In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

69. The World’s Most Enormous Ice Cream Cake Was Recorded At The Dairy Queen In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, In 2011.

70. 20% Of The People Will Admit To Sharing Their Ice Cream With A Pet

71. According To Ziprecruiter, Drivers Of Ice Cream Trucks Earn An Average Of $34,579 Per Year, Though Salaries Can Range From $16,000 To $65,500.

72. The People Of New Zealand Eat The Most Ice Cream At 7.5 Gallons Per Person Per Year.

73. 5.5 Gallons Of Ice Cream Is Equal To 44 Pints!  That’s Almost One Pint Per Week For The Average Person.

74. 87% Of All Americans Claim To Have Ice Cream In Their Freezer At Any Given Time.

75. Many People Like Their Ice Cream Filled With Chunks.  Pecans Are The Most Popular Nut Chunk In The Us.

76. A Man Named John Harrison (Born In 1942) Was Employed By Dreyer, An American Ice Cream Company, As The “Official Taste Tester.”

77. The Ideal Temperature For Scooping And Serving Ice Cream Is 8° To 10°f.

78. When You Experience Brain Freeze, Try Pressing Your Tongue To The Roof Of Your Mouth To Relieve The Discomfort.

79. Nasa Reports That Ice Cream Ranks As One Of The Top Three Food Items That Astronauts Miss The Most When In Space.

80. Neapolitan Ice Cream Has Three Layers, Each Of A Different Flavor And Color (Chocolate, Strawberry, And Vanilla), These Are Molded Into A Block And Cut Into Slices.

81. Heladería Coromoto, Commonly Known As Coromoto, Is A Popular Ice Cream Parlor In Merida, Venezuela, Renowned For Offering A Staggering Guinness World Record Of 860 Flavors.

82. William Dreyer, Of Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Is Thought To Be The Original Concoctor Of Rocky Road In 1929.

83. In Ancient Rome, Emperor Nero Is Said To Have Loved Lemon Sorbet Enriched With Squashed Raspberries And Rose Water.

84. King Charles, The First Of England, Paid His Chef £500 A Year To Keep His Ice Cream Recipe A Secret.

85. Catherine The Great, A Russian Royal, Was Reportedly So Obsessed With The Frozen Treat,  That She Had Her Own Porcelain Ice Cream Serving Sets Made For Her.

86. In 1565, An Architect Named Bernardo Buontalenti Invented A Refrigeration Technique That Enabled Italians To Eat Ice Cream At Any Time.

87. The First Ice Cream Dessert In Italy Was Invented During The 1600s.

88. Bassets Are American Old Ice Cream Professionals, Established In 1861 They Are The Oldest Ice Cream Producers In The Us.

89. In The Uk It Is Very Popular To Eat Ice Cream With A Chocolate Flake, Known As A 99 Flake.

90. In Italy Ice Cream Is Known As Gelato.

91. 16.5 Pints Of Ice Cream Eaten In 6 Minutes Is The World Record, By Miki Sudo.

92. In The Uk Ice Cream Trucks Are Only Permitted To Play Musical Tunes Between 12-7 Pm.

93. Around 50% Of The Volume In Ice Cream Is Air, Which Gives The Dessert Treat A Light Texture.

94. Typically Ice Cream Products Are Usually Made From Dairy Products, But Nowadays There Are Plenty Of Dairy-Free Alternatives.

95. There Are Believed To Be Over 1000 Ice Cream Flavors In The World.

96. 5.5 Gallons Of Ice Cream Is Equal To 44 Pints!  That’s Almost One Pint Per Week For The Average Person.

97. The Romans Sent Slaves Up Into The Mountains To Collect Snow That They Flavored With Fruits And Juices To Create Their Version Of Ice Cream.

98. The First Ice Cream Truck Vendor In The United States Was Harry Burt, Who Started His Business In 1920.

99. A Shop In Ireland Serves Caramelized-Brown-Bread Flavored Ice Cream. It Was Invented During Hard Times When Irish Folk Were Hesitant To Waste Old Bread And Found Ways To Transform It Into Desserts.

100. In 1945, The Us Military Built The First Floating Ice Cream Parlor For The Sailors Serving In The Pacific During WWII.

101. In Tokyo, Japan, You Can Find Ice Cream Flavored With Octopus, Shrimp, Horseflesh, And Cow Tongue.