Ice Cream - Fascinating Facts
The most popular flavor of ice cream is Vanilla
Vanilla comes from the plant vanilla planifolia - a member of the orchid family - grown mainly in Madagascar but also Mexico, parts of South America, Tahiti and islands off E. Africa. The vanilla extract produced from the plant in each of these areas has its own very distinct characteristics.
The most popular topping for ice cream is chocolate syrup.
For other ideas on toppings and syrups see our ice cream toppings section
Ice cream as an industry has an estimated global value of 7.5 billion (USD 11bn).
Follow Ice Cream Recipes 
The world's top 5 consumers of ice cream in order are:
USA, New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Belgium/Luxembourg. In the USA, July is officially recognised as 'National Ice Cream Month'; designated by President Reagan in 1984, the idea behind it was for people to celebrate the fun in ice cream as well as recognising its nutritious value.
In the UK, there are more than 1,000 ice cream companies with annual consumption estimated at 8 litres per person. Extra fascinating fact - ice cream consumption in the USA is circa 21 litres per person per year.
Americans love ice cream as much as ever.
In 2007 Americans spent over $12 billion on ice cream, frozen yogurt and similar products and no less than 91% of adults and 98 per cent of children ate ice cream in that year.
Licking the bowl clean after eating ice cream is admitted to by approx 13% of men and 8% of women.
Binging on ice cream in the middle of the night is apparently done by 1 out of every 5 ice cream eaters! Also, they're usually in the 18-24 year old age bracket and its' claimed that men do this more than women!
Sharing ice cream with a pet cat or dog is done by approx 5% of people.
Biggest ice cream sundae - 12ft tall made with 4,667 gallons of ice cream - California, USA 1985.
The best temperature at which to serve ice cream is said to be 8 degrees F.
Ice cream figured in the lives of some of the most famous people in history including Marco Polo, Emperor Nero and Charles I. (See ice cream history page)
Elvis Presley is said to have loved ice cream - apparently his favorites were chocolate milkshakes and peach ice cream.
Many songs refer to ice cream in their lyrics - eg. 'Your love is better than ice cream' (Sarah McLachlan)
Approx 9% of milk produced by dairy farmers in the USA goes into producing ice cream.
One of the biggest automated freezer warehouses ever built in the UK was for the storage and onward transportation of commercially produced ice cream. Click here to read more about its size and construction.
Ice cream is one of the top 10 food cravings amongst pregnant women. Other popular cravings include pickles and chocolate!
Author: Shelagh Caudle