The Superior Express -

“You Scream., I Scream. We All Scream For Ice Cream!”Sunday is National Ice Cream Day and though any time of the year is a good time to enjoy a dip or two. What better time for eating delicious cold ice cream than during hot July?

Recently I came across some interesting facts about ice cream in a recent Kansas Living magazine: A cow gives enough milk to make two gallons of ice cream per day. That’s 730 gallons per year; The U.S. enjoys an average of 48 pints of ice cream per person, per year; It takes three gallons of milk to make one gallon of ice cream.

Though ice cream is considered to be a dessert, it is nutritious too. It can be an enjoyable treat just to brighten someone’s regular day or to serve in celebration of that special someone’s birthday. There is nothing better than a favorite flavor of ice cream served inside a crispy waffle cone. There are sherbets, Mexican paletas, gelato base, frozen custard, artisan, soft serve, scooped and dipped, piled high in layers, many flavors of toppings added, anyway you’d like it, ice cream is certainly a treat.

There are many flavors of ice cream. One popular ice cream shop in Lawrence, Kan., takes pride in offering 150 flavors of homemade ice cream. Things have sure changed since I was a young girl. Then the only two options of homemade ice cream flavors I had were chocolate or vanilla. Today some of the flavors offered in shops and stores are watermelon sherbet, all the pie flavors, sweet cream, bourbon caramel, blackberry sorbet, cookie dough, strawberry, chocolate mint, butterscotch, candy bar flavors, grape, orange, blackberry, cherry, lavender, rose, caramel, chocolate chip, peanut butter and even a bacon flavor. The ice cream shop in Lawrence claims a top selling ice cream is call “Da Bomb.” It’s a “blast” of cookie dough, Oreos and chocolate flakes hand-stirred into a sweet vanilla cream base. This July, my husband decided his favorite ice cream flavor was “Bunny Tracks,” a combination of vanilla, chocolate chunks, caramel and peanuts.

Homemade ice cream was a favorite to make a couple of generations ago when friends and neighbors would drop by to visit on a hot Sunday afternoon. The old wooden ice cream tub or bucket would be gotten out and the woman of the house would mix her favorite ice cream recipe which was poured into the metal canister, capped and placed into the tub with the metal piece clamped down. Ice was brought from the freezer and chipped into chunks and placed all around the metal canister. Ice cream salt was dumped on top of the ice to aid to speed the freezing. Everyone wanted a hand in turning the handle as the canister went round and round. Children would give it a few turns. Then it was turned over to the older children and finally to the dads, granddads and uncles to finish the job. The younger children would reach into the tub once in a while and pull out salted ice to chew on.

When the turns became harder to do and churning stopped, it was time to take off the lid and do the testing. A spoon was dipped into the ice cream to see if it was done. Excitement would fill the household when it was ready to serve! Today, electric ice cream makers are used in most of the households, but sometimes it’s just easier and faster to visit the local ice cream shop for an instant treat.

Whatever flavor of ice cream you like or wherever you like to get your ice cream treat, I hope you enjoy it.