Ice Cream!

Do you like ice cream? Millions and millions of people all around the world love ice cream. Ice cream was probably first made in China by combining fruit with ice and then found its way to Europe. King Tang (A.D. 618-97) of Shang, China was known to have combined fruit and ice and milk to make an iced cream product.

As far back as 345 B.C., after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he ordered that fifteen huge trenches be dug in the ground and filled with ice imported from a far distance just so he could have his favorite iced fruit dessert. 2,000 years later, that favorite dessert is still served up pretty much the same way and we call it a snow cone.

The Roman emperor Nero (A.D. 37-68) was an ice cream lover.

Ice cream has been around the USA since the early origins of our country. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as well as Dolly Madison and other famous Americans served it to guests. New York City is home to America's very first ice cream parlor which opened in 1776 (the year America declared its independence!).

When ice started being mixed with salt in the production of ice cream, that provided a major breakthrough in ice cream technology. The hand-cranked feezer came along in the 1800's with more than one person applying for a patent, claiming they were first to invent it.

When mechanical refrigeration was invented, the ice cream shop or soda fountain parlor was born. 31 Flavors Ice Cream, anyone?

The first ice cream cones that you could hold in your hand and walk around with were first served at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Chocolate-covered ice cream (also known as Eskimo Pies) was created in 1920 by Chris Nelson who owned an ice cream shop in Iowa and noticed that one of his customers was having a hard time choosing between an ice cream sandwich and a chocolate bar.

Find out even more information about ice cream here (not very young kid-oriented, exactly, but it is a great resource for older kids and parents and teachers).

Americans annually consume about 6 gallons of ice cream per person -- that's roughly 19,200 calories. What flavor of ice cream is YOUR favorite? How many other people say it's their favorite, too? Here is one top ten list made by news channel, CNN:

1. Vanilla (29%)
2. Chocolate (8.9%)
3. Butter Pecan (5.3%)
4. Strawberry (5.3%)
5. Neopolitan (4.2%)
6. Chocolate Chip (3.9%)
7. French Vanilla (3.8%)
8. Cookies n' Cream (3.6%)
9. Fudge Ripple (2.6%)
10. Praline (2.7%)

The Top 10 Ice Cream Consuming Countries in the World are:

1. United States
2. New Zealand
3. Denmark
4. Australia
5. Belgium / Luxembourg
6. Sweden
7. Canada
8. Norway
9. Ireland
10. Switzerland

If you and your family enjoy making your own ice cream, you can find some good recipes here, here, here, and here.

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Website has a special fun section for kids. SAFETY WARNING FOR KIDS AND PARENTS: Even though I'm sure this is a safe website, it does offer downloads of fun stuff so, kids, you must tell your parents FIRST that you want to download something before you actually do it. That same advice goes for the following webpages that offer lots of fun activities all having to do with ice cream:



If you like to make your own webpages or you like to have fun email stationery or you need pictures of ice cream for any reason, you are welcome to use any of these images and backgrounds:


And here's a fun list of books about the subject of ice cream. Some are stories and some are recipes and other things. I think there's something here for every age level so check out the whole list. Remember, a book list is also a list of things to buy and kids need their parents' permission and help to do anything like that. I'm making book lists because I think parents and teachers appreciate that sort of stuff.