“I scream; you scream; we all scream for ice cream”. Nothing like ICE CREAM.
Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from milk, cream, sweetener, emulsifier, stabilizer, and flavors. Eggs and coloring are also added to it. Alternative names of ice cream include gelato, frozen yogurt, frozen custard, and sorbet. Ice cream is available in many flavors and packaging. It is a distinctive richness, smooth texture, and high-calorie dessert. The typical ice-cream serving temperature is –16 °C. Federal law instructs that ice cream must contain at least 10% milkfat by weight.
The ice cream industry has an estimated global value of 7.5 billion. But it has a long history. The ice cream was introduced to the world by Europe where ice beverages and water ice were quite popular. Initially, the sweetener used was honey which was mixed with fruit juices and wine and then frozen. The ice cream was consumed only in hot weather. The people also collected snow during winter and stored it in ice houses or chambers known as “yakhchal” This ice was then mixed with juices and eaten.
Initially, ice was mixed with salt to lower and control the temperature of ice cream ingredients during its making of ice cream. The invention of the wooden bucket freezer with rotary paddles improved ice cream’s manufacture. This was a breakthrough in ice-cream technology.
The ice cream was introduced to the United States by Quaker colonists who included Philadelphia. First Lady Dolly Madison popularized ice cream by making it a frequent offering at the White House from 1809 to 1817. An ice cream industry was born. In 1932, Augustus Jackson, an African American confectioner from Philadelphia prepared new recipes for ice cream. In 1846 Nancy Johnson invented a hand-cranked freezer that set up the basic and traditional method of making ice cream still used today. William Breyer opened the first ice cream store in Philadelphia in 1882. He opened the first ice cream plant in 1896. The most important contribution to the development of ice cream was a mechanical refrigerator in 1878. The development of condensed milk, dry milk, the introduction of the pasteurizer, separator, processing equipment, and improved freezer led to the growth of the ice cream industry. Around 1920, the first ice cream filling and packaging machine were introduced by Mojonnier Brothers.
Today, ice creams are available in many different flavors ranging from budget to premium and novelties ranging from stick to bars to cups to cones to sundaes. The choice is totally yours. According to the ice cream nutrition facts, a 188g of vanilla ice cream cup of (188 g) contains 280 calories, 6g of protein, 9g of fat and 44g of carbohydrates, 30mg of cholesterol, and 140mg of sodium. The most popular ice cream flavors include vanilla (29%), Chocolate (8.9%), Butter Pecan (5.3%), Strawberry (5.3%), Neapolitan (4.2%), Chocolate chip (3.9%). The favorite topping is still a chocolate syrup. In the USA, in 1984 President Reagan announced July as ‘National Ice Cream Month’. As per 2009 statistics, New Zealand is a world leader in ice-cream consumption with 28.4 liters per head. They are followed by the United States with 26.4 liters per head and Australia with 18 liters per head.