July is national ice cream month, and I can’t think of anything that would be more fitting than enjoying this sweet, cold treat on a hot summer day throughout the hottest month of the year. Today, you will learn the history behind this national month and also how to make homemade ice cream. No matter how you decide to celebrate national ice cream month, be sure to enjoy it with family members, friends, or neighbors.
Back in 1984, President Ronald Reagan made a statement designating July as national ice cream month. In his proclamation, he said, “[Ice cream is] the perfect dessert and snack food… nearly ten percent of all the milk produced by the United States dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream…” Considering that the average American consumes over 20 pounds of ice cream annually, the production of ice cream has probably grown quite a bit since the 1980s.
On top of an entire month dedicated to ice cream, national ice cream day occurs annually on the third Sunday of July. There is so much to look forward to in July, starting with Independence Day on July 4th. If nothing else, every American should eat an ice cream sandwich or enjoy a rootbeer float on this day to celebrate. For those who are lactose intolerant, we don’t want you to feel left out. A sorbet or flavorful fruity popsicle can also satisfy your sweet tooth with something cool and refreshing.
According to the International Dairy Foods Association, the first advertisement for ice cream in America was in 1777. Ice cream was a rare dessert and wasn’t publicly available to everyone until the 1800s with the advent of ice houses. Since then, America hasn’t stopped loving and developing different flavors of ice cream. There is an entire aisle in most grocery stores in the frozen section dedicated to stocking ice cream for the masses. From corporations such as Baskin Robbins down to local ice cream trucks, virtually anyone in the United States can find and purchase some ice cream within minutes of their home.
Before we move on to ice cream recipes, we wanted to share a couple of ice cream world records in the United States. Back in 2017, at the Indiana State Fair, a woman named Miki Sudo ate 16.5 gallons of ice cream in only 6 minutes, setting the record for the most ice cream eaten in 6 minutes. I can’t even imagine the massive brain freeze that must have happened to her after that. One year later, in 2018, at the Spirit of Texas Festival, they created the world’s longest ice cream sundae. It was a mile long and contained 500 gallons of ice cream with thousands of cans of whipped cream and tens of thousands of cherries on top. Can you imagine what a sight that must have been? That is a massive amount of ice cream!
Now that I’ve got you thinking about ice cream, here are a couple of recipes you can do at home. Of course, you can always opt for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s if you don’t have the patience to make your own, but it can be fun to make a batch of homemade ice cream with friends or family.
If you have an ice cream maker, here is a quintessential vanilla ice cream recipe using only five ingredients:
1 ¾ cups of heavy cream
1 ¼ cups of whole milk
¾ cup of granulated sugar
⅛ tsp of fine sea salt
1 Tbs vanilla extract
Whisk to combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add it to your ice cream machine. Churn it according to your machine’s directions and put it in an airtight container before freezing the ice cream. If you can’t wait that long, enjoy eating it soft-serve style right out of the ice cream machine. This recipe makes about 1 ½ quarts of vanilla ice cream. Vanilla ice cream always goes great with fresh pies or brownies. Add your favorite toppings such as chocolate sauce, cherries, sprinkles, crushed oreos, or bananas to enhance the flavor of this classic vanilla ice cream.
You can also make a no-churn sorbet with just a food processor and a freezer if you don’t own an ice cream maker. All you need is the following four ingredients:
1 cup of water
¾ cup of granulated sugar
1 pound fresh berries (can be one kind of berry or mixed berries)
⅓ cup of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
Get a medium-sized saucepan and turn your stove to medium heat. Add your water and sugar to the pan and bring it to a boil, whisking until the sugar dissolves. Next, get the mixture down to a simmer and let it sit without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove your simple syrup and pour it into a bowl. Set the bowl in the fridge to let it cool. In the meantime, wash and trim your berries and add them, plus the citrus juice, to your food processor. Blend until they are smooth but not fully pureed. Pulse to combine the cooled simple syrup and berry mixture and pour it into a shallow pan.
Put the sorbet into the freezer and let it set up for two hours. Use a fork or spoon to stir it around and return it to the freezer. Repeat a couple more times until it has reached your desired level of firmness and scoop and serve.
On behalf of The Lintonian, we hope you enjoy national ice cream month this year! Go out there and indulge in your favorite ice cream at some point to help you stay cool this summer.
Featured photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels