Fun Facts

ABOUT ICE CREAM

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about

ice cream and more...

Surveys have shown that men are more likely to choose ice cream as a dessert than women.

Most ice cream contains more milk protein weight for weight than is present in milk itself.

Ice Cream Sundaes were created when it became illegal to sell ice cream with flavoured soda on a Sunday in the American town of Evanston during the late nineteenth century. Some traders got around it by serving it with syrup instead, calling it an ‘Ice Cream Sunday’ and eventually replacing the final ‘y’ with an ‘e’ to avoid upsetting religious leaders.

While many people are only aware of a handful of ice cream companies, there are over 1,000 in the U.K. producing hundreds of flavours. Despite this fact, vanilla remains the favourite being chosen nine times out of ten.

Although popular in Georgian times, today ices with savoury flavours are becoming increasingly popular; Smoked Bacon and Egg, Black Pepper, Chilli, Mustard and even Black Pudding as well as beer ices and tea flavoured ices. The Japanese even have raw horse meat sorbet!!

If you only take a few scoops from a large tub of ice cream, protect the quality of the ice cream by preventing air getting to it by covering the surface with pieces of greaseproof paper before replacing the lid. This stops ice crystals forming on the surface of the ice cream or water ice.

Ice crystals in ice cream show that it has been badly kept i.e. it has been allowed to thaw and then been refrozen. If you detect ice crystals, you should throw away the ice cream and buy more.

Types of

ice cream and ices

Philadelphia Ice Cream

Probably the closest to the original historic “Iced Cream” served to King Charles II in Windsor Castle in 1671 (see History section). Philadelphia ice cream is uncooked ice cream. It originally contained vanilla seeds giving it a speckled appearance.

Super Premium Ice Cream

Incorporates the highest quality ingredients. Will have a high animal fat content from dairy cream and milk.

Premium Ice Cream

Quality ice cream made with a medium fat content.

Gelato

Ice cream made with more milk and less cream, sometimes no cream at all. The lower fat content makes it denser giving it a more intense milk flavour.

Kulfi

Traditionally made with milk that has been boiled for several hours to reduce and concentrate the flavour of the milk. Originates from Indian sub-continent and has a “cooked” quality in its taste. Now canned Condensed Milk is sometimes substituted.

Salap/Salab/Sa’alab

Middle eastern ice made with mastic and salab. Salab is a ground orchid root from the middle east. It is a dense very white ice cream and is very chewy. Mastic contributes a piney flavour.

Sorbet

A water-based ice made with a standard sugar syrup to which a variety of flavours can be added. It contains no dairy product. Historically citrus flavoured and served between courses to refresh the palate.

Sherbet

Sorbet with some milk or cream added.

Granita

Same mixture as a sorbet but more water is added. Normally made by hand in a container and stirred during freezing by hand to give a course looser texture and larger ice crystals. Not made in a machine.

Spoom

Sorbet made with added whipped egg white giving it an airy consistency.

Parfait

The ultimate ice cream. Lives up to its name and has a frozen moose texture. Made from Eggs, cream, sugar and flavouring.

Why is a

'99' called a '99' or a ‘99’ flake?

’99’ is a trademark of Cadbury Limited and it is used to describe a scoop or swirl of soft serve ice cream with a Cadbury chocolate Flake in it.

Unfortunately, the origin of the name for ’99’ ice creams is unknown. We have been unable to get confirmation from Cadbury’s

We do, however, have a variety of possible explanations:

The King of Italy had a personal guard of 99 elite soldiers and the flake was said to represent one of these soldiers. There is no evidence that this guard ever existed
99 is top of the house in bingo
99 in Italian means ‘top class’
It is called a 99 because it was number 99 on the product list
Other manufacturers do make chocolate sticks, but only ice creams containing Cadbury Flakes, made by Cadbury’s, are officially ’99’s

Came from Parent Company Mondalez International who own Cadbury products:

The origin of the name 99 prompts similar levels of debate each year as many believe the treat first took its name because it used to cost 99p from ice cream vendors.

But Cadbury says the exact origins of the 99 have been somewhat lost over time and points to a reference connected to the Italian monarchy, where native Italian ice cream sellers named the ice cream style after a guard of 99 men that would protect royalty and subsequently anything decadent was nicknamed ‘a 99’.

Other theories involve a suggestion that it dates back to Scotland in 1922 when an ice cream shop opened at 99 Portobello High Street and the cone took its name from the shop’s address. While others believe the name honours Italian First World War conscripts, born in 1899, who had long feathers in their hats which resembled chocolate flakes.

By Robin Weir
Co-author of Ices – The Definitive Guide

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