It should come as a surprise to no one that the month of June is when most ice cream is produced! A sweltering summer day is the perfect time to enjoy ice cream cups … just enough to satisfy you, but not enough to leave you with the dreaded brain freeze. We depend on ice cream as our favorite sweet treat, but we know so little about its marvels!
1. Ice Cream Has A Weird History Than You’d Think
One tale behind ice cream’s origins involves none other than Emperor Nero, the despotic Roman ruler. Allegedly, Nero had his slaves go into the mountains to make a concoction of snow, nectar, fruit, and honey … likely for some whim of his. More likely stories attribute ice cream to China’s T’ang dynasty. Either way, ice cream is really, really old … the T’ang dynasty certainly didn’t have ice cream cups with lids!
2. Florence, Italy Is Known For Their Ice Cream
Gelato … often these days found in gelato cups … is Italian ice cream, reputed to be better than American ice cream, possibly because it contains 3% to 8% milk fat to 30% air. Regular ice cream contains 50% air. Florence, Italy is known to have the best gelato in all of Italy. A lot of Florentine gelato shops offer plastic tasting spoons to tourists, allowing you to sample a few flavors before making your choice. Because there are a lot of flavors to choose from: a lot of gelato even includes real fruit!
3. You Can Personalize Your Ice Cream
Ice cream cups with lids come in a variety of different sizes and flavors already. But those cups can be personalized, turned into gifts with customized names and packaging. Something as simple as cookie dough ice cream goes from a simple party favor to a special gift when you name it after the person you’re giving it to! This trick works well with both paper and plastic ice cream cups.
4. Ice Cream Flavors Can Be Weirder Than You’d Think
When looking through ice cream cups with lids, be careful and make sure you know what you’re choosing. Some ice cream flavors include buckwheat flavor, beer flavor, and Parmesan … flavored gelato. Somewhat controversially, in 2011 Ben and Jerry’s even came out with a Schweddy Balls ice cream, named after the famous Saturday Night Live skit.
5. Vanilla Is Everyone’s Favorite Flavor
For all that, vanilla remains the most popular flavor, with 28% of consumers preferring this simple ice cream. Whether you’re eating from a cone or a paper ice cream cup, it seems that, despite some occasional straying, people like their ice cream classic and quality!
