Maci

Written by Maci

Modified & Updated: 04 Mar 2024

Jessica Corbett

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

ice cream cone, ice cream facts

Ice cream is a cool tasty dessert loved by both the young and old. Over the years, connoisseurs have developed all kinds of exciting new flavors to try.  While some flavors may be more preferred than others, the love for this frozen treat never fades. Here we take a look at the delicious ice cream facts that are just too sweet to not know.

  1. Research shows that ice cream makes people feel safe and comfortable.
  2. China holds the record for the most ice cream eaten in 2016.
  3. The average cow produces enough milk in its lifetime to make 7.5 thousand gallons of ice cream.
  4. Each person in Norwegia eats an average of 9.8 liters of ice cream in a year.
  5. The first ice cream dish in Italy was invented during the 1600s.
  1. Ice cream sales significantly increase during times of economic recession.
  2. Immigrants to Ellis Island were fed ice cream sandwiches as a way of introducing them to finer American culture. 
  3. During the Korean war, the Pentagon reassured troops that they would be served ice cream thrice a week. 
  4. The flavor Rocky Road was originally made as a metaphor. This was to help people cope with economic status during the great depression. 
  5. Ice cream consumption increases dramatically during prohibition.
  6. People from New Zealand loves ice cream and eats about 22 liters for each person every year.
  7. The largest sundae ever made was from College Station Texas. 
  8. An editorial criticized European hospitals for not feeding ice cream to injured soldiers.
  9. The Hoover administration once ordered American manufacturers to reduce ice cream production. This was due to the sugar shortage caused by the war. 
  10. Ice cream headaches are a cold-stimulus headache. This occurs when extremely cold food touches the roof of the mouth.
  1. The US military built the first floating ice cream parlor for sailors in the Pacific during WWII. 
  2. American bombers from WWII made ice cream during their missions.
  3. There are over 19,000 gelaterias in Italy.
  4. Kanazawa ice cream pops from Japan stay frozen for an hour at room temperature.
  5. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream profit totals to over $500 million every year.
Table of Contents

Ice Cream Facts Infographics

Ice Cream Facts Infographics

The USS Lexington crew ate all the ice cream on the ship's freezer.

When the Japanese had sunk the World War II naval carrier, the crew aboard the ship did not abandon ship. They first broke into the freezer to eat all of the ice cream that was aboard the ship. During this time, the dessert was heavily relied on by the military in place of liquor. The government also considered this an edible means of propaganda for the first half of the 20th century.

In 1565, an architect invented a refrigeration technique that let Italians eat ice cream at any time.

Bernardo Buolantalenti made it possible for royals to enjoy frozen drinks and ice shavings with noblemen. This became a common practice during special occasions and served as the star of Italy’s Gelato culture. 

4 ice cream in bowls, ice cream facts
Photo by Michelle Tsang on Unsplash

Former American President George Washington spent an average of 200 USD for ice cream in 1790.

In today’s currency, this is equivalent to a total of five thousand dollars. 

Ice cream was first invented in 17th century China.

Tang, the King of Shang, had a total of 94 ice men who helped in creating a dish made of buffalo milk, flour, and camphor. This resulted in the ice cream like product to be first eaten in China. Another ice cream like dish was also made later on during 200 BC. A milk mixture was frozen in a bag by submerging it into the snow.

The Romans sent slaves to collect snow to create their version of ice cream.

This snow was then later on mixed with various fruit juices to create different types of flavors.

The chef of Charles I was paid £500 a year to keep his ice cream recipe a secret.

Charles I treated his recipe as if it were a state secret. But he soon discovered that even a monarch cannot keep track of everything. The chef had already sold the recipe by 1649 which was being served on the tables of English aristocracy.

Charlie Harry Francis created a champagne flavored ice cream laced with viagra.

Each scoop of ice cream is dosed with about 25mgs of Viagra. This mixture was made to ideally satisfy the top celebrities who wanted something special at their parties. 

50% of the volume found in ice cream is air.

This is how the tasty dessert achieves its light texture.

ice cream cones, ice cream facts
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

The ice cream cone was invented during the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

The invention of this edible container was made when a Syrian named Ernest E. Hamwi used batter at his waffle booth to make cones. This was done to help out his neighbor who kept running out of serving bowls.

Gourmet chefs have made alcohol-infused ice cream that contains vodka, whiskey, etc.

There is a growing demand for alcohol-infused ice cream. This explains the rapid growth of the alcoholic ice cream market.

It was once illegal to sell ice cream sodas on Sundays due to religious purposes.

Shop owners invented the ice cream sundae to get around this law. They replaced soda with syrup and replaced the Y on Sunday into an E.

July is National Ice Cream month.

This was declared by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Ice cream trucks can only play music between the hours of 12 noon to 7 pm in Britain.

This rule was established to avoid disturbing people early in the morning. 

ice cream truck, ice cream facts
Image by Susan McAleer from Pixabay

The first ice-cream vendor was Harry Burt.

He was the first ice cream truck vendor who began his business in the year 1920.

You can find ice cream commonly flavored with octopus, cow tongue, and shrimp in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan is known for being adventurous with their food. If you’re feeling adventurous, why not try a scoop of their most bizarre flavors.

The United States produces an average of 1.6 billion gallons of ice cream a year.

That’s a lot of ice cream!

Caramelized brown bread flavored ice cream can be found in Ireland.

This was invented during hard economic times where Irish folk were hesitant to throw away old bread. They found a way to fuse this with the frosty dessert which is now enjoyed by many. 

Nancy Jhonson received the first American patent for a hand-held ice cream maker in 1843.

She produced a freezing machine that made use of a hand crank. The device included a wooden pail and a pewter cylinder. 

Butter flavored ice cream is sold by a chocolate emporium in Maine.

This ice cream is served with chunks of lobster meat inside it. 

The Little Baby's in Philadelphia serves pizza-flavored ice cream.

Little Baby’s is famous for its experimental flavors. Amongst all their flavors, the pizza flavor is considered to be the shop’s greatest flavor ever invented.

While ice cream did originate from China, the ice cream we all know today was created in Italy.

This ice cream is also known as Gelato. 

italian gelato shop, ice cream facts
Photo by Katie Smetherman on Unsplash

Italian ice cream is called gelato. This is widely popular all around the globe.

This is widely popular all around the globe. In 2017, Italy produced around 19% of all ice cream made in Europe. That’s a whopping 157 million gallons of ice cream! 

Miki Sudo broke the world record for ice cream eating in 2017.

She ate a total of 16.5 pints of ice cream within 6 minutes. 

Sunni Sky's has an ice cream flavor that you have to sign a waiver form before consuming it.

This flavor is known as the cold sweat and it is mixed with peppers of the highest spice level.

Sebastian Joe has invented a garlic-flavored ice cream.

While it is available, it has yet to catch on compared to other more bizarre ice cream flavors. 

A song written by Howard Johnson popularized the phrase “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream”.

Billy Moll and Robert King also helped in producing the song in 1927.

ice cream melting, ice cream facts
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Artisan made ice cream is a rising trend in the United Kingdom as well as Ireland.

There are over 1000 small producers of expensive and elite ice cream products in these countries.

The first ice cream ever produced in Japan were made from ice and salt.

These ingredients were taken from the city streets of Yokohama.

The Russian Catherine the Great loved ice cream a lot.

So much so that she has her own special ice cream service set made from Sevres porcelain. 

Ben and Jerry's operate under a business vision called linked prosperity.

This implies that all of its employees, suppliers, customers can benefit from the company. 

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