Facts About Ice Cream

Ice cream is the most beloved dessert throughout the world. It is the one food item that we can eat even if we have a full stomach. Ice cream the one food stuff that not only refreshes us but also brings a smile on our faces. Right from history of ice cream to its current new flavors and recipes, ice cream 'screams' of fun. Let us look at some of the ice cream facts that are fun and eye-opening. The following paragraphs will highlight the facts about ice cream.

There are several facts about ice cream that you should know. These should not stop you from eating your ice cream.

• Ice cream was first made and sold commercially as a popular in the US due to the invention of the ice cream crank by Nancy Johnson.
• The ice cream should have at least 10% of milk fat and 20% of milk solids. It cannot contain more than 0.5% of stabilizers and 0.2% of emulsifiers.
• Air is added to the ice cream to make it lighter and to improve its texture. However, this air determines the quality of the ice cream. The more the air, the cheaper the ice cream in terms of money and quality (in some cases).
• Ice cream is stored in the freezer. However, ice cream doesn't freeze the way water gets converted into ice. The main ice cream ingredients are sugars and fats. However, this sugar, which is dissolved in the ice cream, lowers the melting point and the fats give it the creamy texture. This is why, even when the ice cream is frozen, it does not become hard as ice.
• Whenever you eat cold ice cream, there are often instances when you experience a terrible headache for about 40 seconds. This headache, or brain freeze, is the result of the cold ice cream touching the roof of your mouth. This area has a nerve center. When something very cold touches this area, the blood vessels in the brain get dilated, causing instant headache. The trick here is to not let the ice cream touch the roof of your mouth.
• When ice cream is sold in gallons, the gallon should hold at least 4.5 pounds of ice cream. While choosing which ice cream to buy, compare the weight and not the price.
• There are several weird ice cream flavors that have evolved in different countries like charcoal ice cream, ox tongue ice cream, etc.

Fun Facts
Kids love to eat ice cream. They would love ice cream for all their meals, if given a chance! Here are some ice cream facts for kids to enjoy their ice cream more.

• Of all the ice cream facts, this is an amazing one; To finish off an ice cream, it takes about 50 licks!!
• The biggest ice cream sundae was made in Canada in 1988. This huge sundae weighted over 24 tons! Think you can eat that?
• One of the surprising ice cream facts is that about 98% of US families have ice creams in their fridges, everyday.
• It is believed that Roman Hero Nero was very fond of flavored ice. He used to send his slaves to fetch snow and ordered his cook to flavor the snow with different flavors. This happened in the 1500s!!
• Americans are believed to consume more ice cream than any other country in the world.
• A National Ice cream Month is celebrated in July in the US.
• Vanilla is the favorite flavor of the Americans. Chocolate follows vanilla. Shocking, eh?
• This dessert recipe is made in several flavors. Sea salt ice cream is one of the flavors too!
• If air is not infused in the ice cream, ice cream will be hard as ice with no creaminess in that yummy ice cream.
• Avocados and garlic were ice cream flavors that fortunately did not get a big response. Yuck, right?
• Do you know that some people eat fried ice cream too?
• One of the several facts of ice cream is that out of the total ice cream sold across the world, more than half is consumed by adults and not children!
• The ice cream cone is older than your grandparents. The one cone was said to be made from a waffle, in 1904.

Nutritional Facts
While eating ice cream, do we think of nutrition? I think not. Given below are some ice cream facts related to the nutrition of ice cream.

• It takes about 12 gallons of milk to make 1 gallon of ice cream.
• Ice cream contains vitamins A and B in plenty and some amount of vitamin C.
• Half a cup of ice cream will contain about 100 calories of which you get about 40 calories from the fat in the ice cream.
• From every half a cup of ice cream you get about 3 grams of proteins and 15 grams of carbohydrates.
• Surprisingly, you can get up to 2% of your daily sodium needs from half a cup of ice cream.
• Chocolate, cookie batter and coconut ice creams contain a lot of calories. Eating one large scoop is almost equal to half of your meal! (this doesn't mean that you eat ice cream instead of your regular food)
• However, there are not enough nutrients in an ice cream.

Thus, there are many ice cream facts, that are fun. There are some facts about ice cream that I am sure you did not know earlier. Whether you make an ice cream from the various homemade recipes or buy an ice cream from the ice cream truck, remember to enjoy every lick of this delicious dessert. Happy Eating!