Hilarious and Bizarre Facts About Ice Cream You Weren’t Aware Of

Kids love it, adults love it, we all love it. We’re talking about ice cream here. Let’s check out some amazing facts about this mouth-watering dessert that is loved the world over.

The first commercial factory for making ice cream was set up in the year 1851 in Boston city.

Ice cream is the most beloved dessert throughout the world. It is one food item that we can eat even when we are full (and we mostly do eat it when we are full). It not only refreshes us, but also brings a smile to our faces. Right from classic vanilla to the more sophisticated new flavors, ice cream ‘screams’ fun.

Unlike other region-specific cuisines, this is one thing that is eaten widely in every corner of the world. It would be safe to say that it’s kinda difficult to find someone who dislikes this dessert. Anyway, there are so many facts and stories connected with ice cream, and it would be real fun to read about some of them.

So, without further delay, let’s look at some facts that are fun, and some, quite bizarre.

Ice cream was first made and sold commercially in the US due to the invention of the ice cream crank by Nancy Johnson.

Americans are the No.1 consumers of ice cream in the world, where an average person eats 48 pints of ice cream a year. In total, Americans consumed 1.58 billion gallons of ice cream in 2011.

Ronald Reagan declared July as ‘Ice Cream Month’, and the 3rd Sunday of the month as ‘Ice Cream Day’. Thus, Ronald Reagan, by default is the best President to have served the country.

In the year 2011, ice cream generated $21 billion in sales.

It takes an approximate 50 licks to finish an ice cream. The number may decrease if you are famished.

Ice cream is so awesome that there is even a proved ice cream diet. It is supposed to be a way to lose weight without any side effects.

The major ingredient in an ice cream? Air.

Air is added to ice cream to make it lighter and improve its texture. The amount of air added determines the quality of an ice cream. The more the air, the cheaper the ice cream in terms of money and quality (in some cases).

Sugar in ice cream lowers its melting point, and the fats are responsible for its creamy texture.

At some instances when you consume ice cream, you must have experienced a severe 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 an instant headache.

To produce 1 gallon of ice cream, it takes 12 pounds of milk. A cow gives 64 pounds of milk in a day. That means, by extremely complicated mathematical calculations, it gives approximately 5.5 gallons of ice cream every day. Thus, cows are the second-most favorite entity in America, after Ronald Reagan.

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.

Ice creams are most popular with kids in the age bracket of 2 to 12, and with adults over the age of 45.

John Harrison, a tester at Dreyer’s Ice Cream, got his tongue insured for $1 million.

In 2008, PETA requested Ben & Jerry’s use breast milk instead of cow’s milk to make ice cream. This was understandably rejected, and lactating women breathed a sigh of relief.

In Canada, more ice cream is sold in winter than in summer. Leave it to the Canadians for being different.

There have been many weird flavors released, but some of them blur the line between weird and disgusting. They are crocodile egg (as if the skin wasn’t enough), breast milk, bacon, raw horse flesh (yes, you read it right), jelly fish, octopus, and the worst date food ever―garlic ice cream.

Fat percentage in ice cream is regulated in the United States.

• Regular ice cream has a maximum of 10% fat.
• Reduced-fat ice cream has 25% less fat than regular ice cream.
• Light ice cream has 50% less fat than regular ice cream.
• Low-fat ice cream has, at the most, 3 grams of fat per serving.
• Non-fat ice cream should have, at the most 0.5 grams of fat per serving.
• Sherbet has 1 – 2% milk.
• Sorbet has no milk at all.

President George Washington spent almost $200 on ice creams in the year 1790, and Thomas Jefferson had a personal 18-ingredient vanilla ice cream recipe. Understandably, the fight for freedom must have taken a toll, and they needed to cool off.

The most popular flavor is vanilla, followed by chocolate, then strawberry, and cookies and cream, and so on.

About 98% of US families have ice cream in their fridges, at all times.

It is believed that the 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 way back in the 1500s!

Did you know that there is a variety called fried ice cream? Yes, a scoop of ice cream is flash fried to give it a crunchy coating. The core remains cold.

The most popular ice cream topping is chocolate syrup.

Now, it’s a given that after reading all these interesting facts, you must be longing for a bite of your favorite dessert. Go grab one then! But before you do that, if you know of any crazy, interesting, or funny fact related to ice cream, do post it in the comments section below, so that everyone can be enlightened.

Like it? Share it!