We All Scream for Ice Cream
July is National Ice Cream month
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- “I just like ice cream! My favorite, I guess as my friend Doug Vanover would say, is free ice cream!” -Larry King
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- “Cookies and cream.” – Monica Phillips “My favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry with chunks of real strawberry.” – Adam Phillips
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- “My favorite is a dipped cone with a little chocolate on top.” -Fredia Stephens
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- “Butter pecan in a bowl is my favorite!” – Beverly McKnight
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- ‘Chocolate is the best.” – Breanna Perkins “I like a banana split because I can fix it the way I like it!” – Carly Stephens
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- “I can’t get enough of the Blue Bell Cherry and Vanilla!” – Linda Moncrief
By Eugenia Jones
eugenia@highland.net
Regardless of how it is served-soft, by the scoop, in a cone, or a la mode with a piping hot piece of pie-ice cream is the favorite frozen American treat that makes summertime complete.
With July’s sizzling temperatures, it’s the perfect time to celebrate National Ice Cream Month and National Ice Cream Day on Sunday July 15, 2018. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared July as National Ice Cream Month by signing a proclamation asking everyone in the United States to celebrate throughout the month with ice cream related events. With ice cream being a favorite American sweet treat and powerful economic driver contributing more than $39 billion to the U. S. economy, it isn’t difficult for ice cream enthusiasts to observe the July proclamation.
The history of ice cream began with flavored ices and iced drinks. Early Biblical verses reference King Solomon enjoying iced drinks at harvest time. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD.) were probably the first to incorporate frozen cow, goat, or buffalo milk into an ice cream like mixture. With the earliest forms of ice cream resembling frozen ice drinks and frozen milk concoctions, ice cream as we know it today has come a long way.
No one knows for sure how ice cream made its way to the United States, but it appears in American recipe books from the early 1700s. The first ice cream parlor opened in New York City in 1790. Early United States presidents, including Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln had a fondness for the cold sweet treat with Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd, holding “strawberry parties” where fresh strawberries were served with cake and ice cream.
In McCreary County, we’ve discovered folks have lots of favorite flavors and ways to eat their ice cream.
How do you like your ice cream?
Whether as a scoop, shake, split, or sundae, don’t forget to celebrate throughout the month of July as we all scream for our favorite ice cream.
Research sources: International Dairy Foods Association and PBS.org-Tori Avey, “Explore the Delicious History of Ice Cream.”
