July is National Ice Cream Month

COOL facts about Ice Cream

Did you know that JULY is National Ice Cream Month in the USA? It was established by President Ronald Reagan, in 1984.

National Ice Cream Day is the 3rd Sunday in July. Learn some fun facts about ice cream!

1. One scoop of ice cream needs about 50 licks to finish.
2. The Chinese were making a type of ice cream with milk, rice and snow, about 2000 BC.
3. The average American eats 48 pints of ice cream each year.
4. To make one gallon of ice cream, you need 12 pounds of milk. A dairy cow can produce enough milk for about 9000 gallons of ice cream in its lifetime.
5. The USA is the world's leading producer of ice cream.
6. Alexander the Great liked nectar and honey flavored snow.
7. Yes ... vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor (followed by chocolate and strawberry).
8. An ice cream tester for Dreyer's Ice Cream actually insured his tongue for $1 million dollars!
9. Dolly Madison served strawberry ice cream at the second inaugural ball of her husband, President James Madison, in 1812.
10. Sunday is the day of the week when the most ice cream is sold in the United States.
11. Did you know that one of the main ingredients in ice cream is ... AIR (makes it lighter and gives it  smoothness)?
12. During World War II, the U.S. Navy (in 1945) built a floating ice cream parlor for our sailors fighting in the Pacific.
13. More ice cream is sold in the WINTER months in Canada than the summer months.
14. Strange ice cream flavors include jalapeno, dill pickle, garlic, bacon, bleu cheese and shallots, squid ink and curry carrot. Name some more!
15. The world's largest ice cream cone weighed 2204 pounds. It was 13 feet tall. It was made in Gloucester, UK, in 2012.
16. The world's largest ice cream sundae was created in Kingston, NY, in 2014. It was 1606 ft. tall.
17. Ever get a brain freeze from eating ice cream?  The top of the mouth has lots of nerves. When cold ice cream comes into contact with these nerves, it causes blood vessels in the brain to dilate, giving the short headache also known as an ice cream headache.
18. Thomas Jefferson loved ice cream. See his recipe for vanilla ice cream here.

Extension Activities:

• Write a haiku poem about ice cream.
• If you had to describe ice cream to an alien from outer space, what would be three descriptive words you'd use to explain the treat.  Write a paragraph about your encounter sharing ice cream with an alien.
• Draw/color a picture of an ice cream sundae. Exchange your drawing with three others and have them write descriptive words to describe what they see. When your drawing is returned, write a paragraph using the comments about your ice cream sundae.
• There is a saying, " A picture is worth a 1000 words." Illustrate/color one of the facts about ice cream which conveys the fact.

Additional Links:

Read about how ice cream helped the Allies in World War II and how Mussolini banned ice cream in Italy during the war.

Facts about ice cream from Buzzle.

Gail

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