10 Facts About Ice Cream You Might Not Know

1. A dairy free ice cream can have as much fat as premium ice cream! Make sure to check that label, especially for frozen desserts with coconut milk as the base. Surprisingly, frozen yogurt is your best bet followed by sorbets. Who knew!
2. Parlors that sell soft serve instead of hard ice cream have to throw away any leftovers. What a waste.
3. Did you know that fruit juice was poured over snow and then eaten? So much for thinking snow cones were a modern marvel! In fact many cultures started with snow alone as their base, including the Chinese, Arabs, and Persians.
4. Even though ice cream dates back thousands of years, recipes for how to make ice cream didn’t appear until the 1700s, originating in England and America.
5. Ice cream soda is an American invention, and even went on to become the go-to snack during the Prohibition era. When all the bars were closing, soda fountains and parlors were booming!
6. Australians and New Zealanders eat more ice cream each year than Americans.
7. Most people still wonder how gelato is any different than ice cream and think its the eggs. In actuality, any custard base will use eggs, but Italian gelato is actually just ice cream with a lower fat content and less air.
8. The United Kingdom and United States are the leaders of stuffing ice cream with secret chemicals including anti-freeze, inflammable liquids, and fish parts!
9. Time to get tipsy! It is not uncommon in homemade ice cream to add alcohol for preventing ice crystal formations. Anything to make sure you get that perfectly smooth ice cream.
10. And of course, what do you think is the most popular, most beloved, most exciting flavor for Americans to eat? Still vanilla!