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  • Writer's pictureBrent McTavish

Happy Chocolate Ice Cream Day!

It is often said that Ice cream’s birthplace reaches as far back as the Second Century B.C., although no exact date nor creator has been undisputedly credited with its creation.

It is known that Alexander the Great appreciated snow and ice concoctions flavoured with different nectars and honey. Christian scriptural references additionally show that King Solomon was enamoured with iced beverages during the harvest season. And during the Roman Empire, Nero Claudius Caesar (A.D. 54-86) every now and again sent men into the mountains to quickly collect and deliver back snow. This snow was then flavoured with some of Caesar’s favourite fruits and their juices.


Well over a thousand years after this, Marco Polo came back to Italy from his expeditions to the Far East with a very special recipe. This recipe closely resembles what we now know as Sherbet. Students of history have argued that around the Sixteenth Century this formula advanced into the dessert of Ice Cream. Britain appears to have perhaps found Ice Cream simultaneously, or maybe considerably sooner than the Italians. It is written that“Cream Ice," as it was called then, often showed up on the table of King Charles I during the Seventeenth Century. In 1553, France became acquainted with a similar ice cold dessert introduced by the Italian Catherine de Medici when she married King Henry II of France. However, similar to the origins of chocolate, it wasn't until approximately 1660 that Ice Cream was made accessible to the overall population.

At one of Paris’s first Bistros, a Sicilian by the name of Procopio created a special dessert by mixing milk, cream, butter and eggs, et voilà, modern Ice Cream was born.


Vanilla is considered the most popular flavour today, but ever since the Italians first froze their decadently rich Hot Chocolate around 1692, the flavour of chocolate has been a close contender.


Today’s celebratory day was most likely started by an ice cream maker to encourage sales of their heavenly dessert. However, the question remains, was there any need to encourage us to enjoy more chocolate ice cream?


Six Totally Random Ice Cream Facts:

  1. Hawaii has an “ice cream bean” fruit that tastes like ice cream!

  2. The world record for eating ice cream was broken in 2017. Miki Sudo managed to get through 7.8 litres of ice cream in 6 minutes!

  3. In 2016, Americans ate 2.7 billion litres of ice cream.

  4. On average, do you know how many licks it takes to consume an ice cream cone? Researchers discovered the magic number is 50 licks. Try it when you have your next cone, see if it is true.

  5. Chocolate is the most preferred ice cream topping. Chocolate sauce and chocolate ice cream. A match made in ice cream heaven!

  6. In general the most popular day to consume ice cream is Sunday!


Credits: International Dairy Foods Association & Days of the Year


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