We’ve missed half of the month but the BIG DAY is coming right up, so get ready for a celebratory observance of…National Ice Cream Day ! Would I lie about a thing like that? It seems that, actually, the entire month of July is National Ice Cream Month…and…the third Sunday in July is designated as National Ice Cream Day! Who says? Well, all you cake-cone cuties out there, Resolution # 298 in the United States Senate (introduced by Sen. Walter Dee Huddleston–KY) and Resolution # 543 in the U.S. House of Representatives (introduced by Rep. Kika de la Garza–TX) on July 2, 1984 officially designated the month of July as National IceCream Month, with the third Sunday in the month to be National Ice Cream Day; the resolution was signed by none other than President Ronald Reagan on July 9, 1984. So there. And, unlike a lot of what comes out of Congress, there is a genuine rational motivation for this declaration. Some $10 billion in revenue each year is derived from ice cream and related products, made from about 9% of all milk produced in this country…AND…a very high percentage of all ice cream companies are family-owned. Think about it, beyond national brands like Baskin-Robbins or Sealtest, for instance,aren’t most local favorites–say, Mitchell’s, Toft’s, Hartzler’s, Velvet, Graeter’s–the product of some family expansion of their dairy output? One survey declared that about 40% of the population admits to consuming a whole pint of ice cream at one sitting. Sounds like a family party to me.
There is a history to ice cream. A Persian royal dessert (400B.C.) called for frozen saffron, rose water fruit and vermicelli (Wait ! Isn’t that pasta?) Chinese recipes(618-697 A.D.) give the ingredients as flour, buffalo milk, and camphor (Wouldn’t that taste like frozen Vicks Vapo-rub?). Supposedly, Alexander the Great loved to mix snow and ice with honey and nectar (when he wasn’t off conquering someplace–probably named it after himself too) to make his own special treat. Julius Caesar had snow rushed down from the mountains so he could have fruits and honey added and Marco Polo brought back from Asian adventures the recipe for what we would call sherbet, which, with the addition of cream, became known as “cream ice.” Still, “Time Marches On.” In 1660 Francesco Procopio Dei Coltelli (Nice Irish boy, don’t you think?) in Paris came up with a machine (said to have been made by his grandfather) which took in milk, butter, eggs and cream,( must be some sugar somewhere) then produced gelato, the Italian version of ice cream. The first mention of ice cream in America was by a guest of the governor of Maryland and the first advertisement of the treat came in 1777. Thomas Jefferson was an ice cream fanatic–he spent time in France, you know, quite the cosmopolitan–and his handwritten recipe for his homemade variety is in the Library of Congress.
If you think some of those recipes sound a little off, don’t even think of ordering in Japan unless you can get a good translator/interpreter; they have ice cream in squid, octopus and ox tongue flavors. Quite a surprise with hot fudge, eh?
So, observe this dairy extravaganza any way you like and keep in mind that there are other event possibilities, to wit : February 1–Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, September 22–Ice Cream Cone Day (closing out summer officially, I guess), December 8–Brownie Day (to eat with ice cream and hot fudge, maybe), another Ice Cream Day on December 13 and the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars(which involved Scots criminal gangs selling their products from mobile units–Good Humor couldn’t compete) during the ‘80’s.
Watch for special deals from Baskin-Robbins, a video contest from Churnbaby, Dippin Dots, Good Humor(which celebrates its centennial this year), and other–not so local–places like Clementine’s Naughty & Nice (gotta wonder about that one), Clemson University 55 Exchange Creamery, Dasher & Crank, Fat Boy’s Ice Cream, Fireman Derek, Jolly Llama, Maggie Moo, Mindsets (design-your-own sundae for a year’s supply of ice cream), Monkey Joe’s, Ripple (vegan), Sensodyne for those who have sensitive teeth) and SubZero Nitrogen Ice Cream.
How’s that for a selection? Didn’t see anything from Cold Stone Creamery or even the Chilling Station in Mantua, but we can always hope. Soft-serve folks like DQ (around since 1939) may be getting in on the festivities too, couldn’t hurt to check ‘em out. We could be trying to catch up to the Kiwis–New Zealanders, who consume some 23 litres per person, per year. Something to shoot for.
And, by the by, you can try out the new ice cream offerings at The Cellar Door Coffee Co.–single scoop, double scoop, sundaes, shakes, sandwiches, sorbet, parfaits, floats. Should you down the goodies too fast –get “brain freeze”– you’ll be suffering from Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, probably not covered by insurance but definitely impressive-sounding.
Go for it. Tell everyone you’re observing a national holiday.
