A little scoop about ice cream.
First of all, there’s probably only a handful of foods that are as universally loved as ice cream. Also, August is a popular month for national ice cream day celebrations – ice cream sandwich day (Aug. 2), ice cream pie day (Aug. 18) and soft ice cream day (Aug. 19).
When I think about ice cream, many fond memories come to mind. My childhood home was located at the end of a cul-de-sac, a perfect place for the ice cream truck to park so that my neighborhood friends and I could buy our favorite popsicles or drumsticks.
At family gatherings, I loved it when my uncle “Retz” (short for Retzlaff) made good old-fashioned vanilla ice cream, and how my cousins and I traded off turning the hand crank. Fresh grown peaches and strawberries were the absolute “frosting on the cake.”
And who could forget when Baskin & Robbins shops started popping up everywhere? I was a huge Dodgers fan, so Baseball Nut was my favorite flavor during the season, and Pralines ‘N Cream in the off season.
Philadelphia is the major ice cream manufacturing hub in the U.S. While the ice cream cone may have originated at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, Penn State University was ahead of the curve with its science-based “Ice Cream Short Course,” which debuted in 1892, a “mere” 132 years ago.
The one-week course is designed for novices passionate about perfecting their ice cream-making skills and employees from well-known brands such as Tillamook and Hershey’s, as well as for those who are just plain curious. A newly married couple included it as part of their honeymoon, and the course is so popular that registration demand can sometimes make the system crash.
Ice cream has made its way into some fascinating news. Freeze-dried ice cream was created for NASA, Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing down the first ice cream recipe, and in Ireland ice cream sandwiches are called sliders.
Speaking of international popularity, my fondest ice cream story occurred in 1981 when I was walking around the city of Ghaziabad in India. As I approached Nirula’s 21 Flavors, I could hear Randy Crawford singing “Street Lights.” I ordered two scoops of raspberry sherbet so that I could hear the entire album by the Crusaders.
Even though I had been traveling the world for three months, I felt right at home. I think that’s the key to ice cream’s popularity. It’s a sweet treat that reminds folks of home, family and good times.
Makes delicious sense to me.
Writer, speaker and editor Cheryl Russell is a Laguna Woods Village resident. Contact her at Cheryl@starheart.com.
