By: Maggie Z

Who could possibly resist a fresh, cold ice cream cone on a hot summer day? Read on for some awesome crazy facts about this cold summer treat.

Historians are not sure when the first ice cream was invented, but the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) claims the treat is known to go as far back as 100 BCE! And when Alexander the Great wasn’t busy waging war on nearby countries, he enjoyed a frozen concoction of honey and nectar over ice.

In 1984, America’s 40th president, Ronald Reagan, an ice cream enthusiast, issued Proclamation 5219, which announced that July was National Ice Cream Month. The decree also made the third Sunday of July National Ice Cream Day, on which Americans are encouraged to eat as much ice cream as possible. But while he might seem like the biggest ice cream fanatic ever, his ice-cream-inspired accomplishments are nothing when put next to the deeds of the one and only George Washington. In the summer of 1790, George Washington spent $200 (a whopping modern-day $5,000) on ice cream!

There are even Guinness World Records about ice cream. In 2018, Italy’s Dmitri Panciera set the record for 125 ice cream scoops balanced on a single cone. In 2023, Germany’s Andre Ortolf ate 1.25 lbs of ice cream in just 30 seconds!

While there are almost 200 countries around the globe, the USA is the largest consumer of ice cream. The average American eats around 20 lbs of ice cream each year, and they spend over $6 billion on it annually!

There are also an amazing variety of flavors. There are thousands of different ice cream flavors, including asparagus, grated cheese, and bread crumbs. You could even create your very own ice cream flavor! However, among the thousands of flavors that exist today, there is only one that is most popular.

According to IDFA’s 2024 Ice Cream & Frozen Novelty Trends Survey, “Vanilla is America’s flavor of choice in ice cream, followed by Chocolate and Strawberry.”
That’s the scoop for today. Take a chill!