Ice-cream is the best snack out there, especially in the summer. And if you ask kids many of them will tell you that if they could eat only one thing for the rest of their life it would be ice-cream. It’s perfectly sweet and creamy, there are millions of flavors and flavor combinations of ice-cream out there. There’s also now many dairy-free ice-cream options for those who are lactose-intolerant, allergic to dairy or just vegan. But despite the huge popularity of ice-cream, there are still facts about it that you probably don’t know. So here’s some trivia so that you can know more about the food you probably eat quite frequently this season.
1. It Used To Be Made Of Ice
The first ice-creams were actually dairy-free and were made of ice. It was a nice cooling summer snack. We can only assume it was more of a slushy consistency. It was around the 10th century that people started making ice-cream out of cream and that’s probably where our obsession with dairy creamy ice-cream began.
2. It Takes A Lot Of Milk To Make It
Did you know that it actually takes 12 gallons of milk to make just 1 gallon of ice-cream? That’s because you don’t just use milk to make ice-cream, you add cream. And you can only get about a pint of cream out of one gallon of milk. So depending on the fat content in the milk you need quite a lot of it to make yummy creamy ice-cream.
3. Chocolate Ice Cream Came First
When thinking about ice-cream flavours many consider vanilla to be the most basic one and therefore assume that that was the first flavour of ice-cream to be created. However, the first ice-cream flavour to be created was chocolate and vanilla came second.
4. Vanilla Lovers Win
Speaking of vanilla, even though it’s not the first one to be created it’s definitely a first in many people’s hearts. Despite the fact that vanilla has become synonymous with lame, boring and basic, it’s still the most popular ice-cream flavour in the world. Do what you want with this information but it’s a fact.
5. How Many Licks Does It Take
Did you know that it usually takes approximately 50 licks to eat a scoop of ice-cream? It’s one of those weird things that’s been tried and tested probably because people were curious and someone was actually interested enough to count. Test this theory next time you’re having an ice-cream cone.
6. Waffle Cones Were An Accident
Some of the best inventions out there are complete accidents, but happy accidents at that. The same happened to the waffle cone. When an ice-cream vendor couldn’t keep up with the demand of customers and ran out of bowls, they asked a near-by waffle maker to help out and that’s how it was created. At least that’s what apparently happened in America. We’re pretty sure it happened in some other way in Europe.
7. Ice-Cream Is 50% Air
Most people think that ice-cream has that creamy texture because of cream and fat content and while that’s partly true, that’s only half of the reason why. The other half is that ice-cream is about 50% air that’s been churned and whipped into it to give you that lovely soft-serve we all enjoy.
8. New Zealand Eats Most Ice-Cream
You’d probably assume it’s Americans who eat the most ice-cream, considering their generous portions, but you’d be wrong. Americans produce the most ice-cream in the world, but it’s New Zealand that consumes the most. While New Zealand is a much smaller country, they eat more ice-cream per person. Apparently, kiwis eat 7,5 gallons of ice-cream per person every year.
9. Rocky Road Flavour Has A Deep Meaning
The rocky road flavor of ice-cream was meant to be the metaphor for the Great Depression and was marketed to cheer people up and help them deal with the bad news of the crashing economy.
10. Brain Freeze Explained
Many of you have probably experienced brain freeze when eating ice-cream too quickly. This happens when very cold ice-cream touches the roof of your mouth, and that causes the blood vessels in your head to dilate giving you that brain freeze sensation. The best way to stop brain freeze faster is to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth.