Ice Cream is a frozen dessert made using milk or cream and flavored with sweeteners, occasionally adding other ingredients such as fruits or spices. Famous for its semi-solid form and smooth texture, ice cream is served in several countries across the world, with the earliest history of modern ice cream dating back to at least the 16th century.
Coming in numerous flavors, alongside standard global varieties, several locations have their own special flavors of ice cream.
Ice cream is traditionally served in a dish such as a bowl or cup or in an edible cone, either fully conical or with a flat bottom. When sold, it is packaged in plastic buckets or paper tubs, with restaurant ice cream coming in large canisters. Specially pre-packaged ice cream also comes with extras to help preserve it, namely a chocolate coating from dipping it in chocolate sauce, which can vary in favor. Some chocolate dipped ice cream also comes served on popsicle sticks or simply in blocks.
In addition to standard ice cream, there are several other frozen treats that also occupy a similar niche, such as Ice Candy.
Soft Serve[]
Soft serve is a special variety of ice cream that is made using a pre-mixed ingredient mixture pre-chilled to just above freezing. Loaded into a special machine, the resulting semi-solid comes out similarly to frosting, and is much softer in texture than normal ice cream, hence the name. These machines are usually installed in restaurants and other large establishments, and are almost never an implement in an average household.
Ice Cream Sandwich[]
An ice cream sandwich is a type of dessert made from a block of ice cream sandwiched between either two cookies or two wafers of cake. These are usually composed of either chocolate, strawberry and/or vanilla ice cream and a varying choice of cake wafers and cookies, and come primarily cut as rectangles or circles.
Gelato[]
Gelato is a special Italian mix of ice cream, using less butter fat and mixed with less air, making it denser and more rich in flavor than other ice cream mixes.
Frozen Custard[]
Frozen Custard uses a slightly different mix than standard ice cream, with the key difference being the addition of egg yolks as a primary ingredient. Frozen custard is also kept at warmer temperatures than normal compared to ice cream, and like gelato has a thicker and denser composition.
Frozen Yogurt[]
Frozen yogurt is very similar to ice cream but tends to have a more tart taste. It contains live bacterial cultures in the mixture. Lower in fat, its consistency is akin to soft-serve ice cream.
Mochi Ice Cream[]
Mochi ice cream is a Japanese treat made with mochi (Japanese sticky rice) and a filling of ice cream.
Popsicle[]
Popsicles are created by pouring a flavored liquid into a mold before a handle (usually some form of plastic or wooden stick) is inserted. Unlike ice cream, which can be easily bitten through, popsicles are essentially flavor ice cubes, meaning that the primary way for anyone to consume them is by licking them or sucking on them like a pacifier. A single popsicle can also have two or more flavors in addition to a single flavor, while their simplicity means that they are a popular type of homemade treat that is easy to prepare.
Shaved Ice[]
Shaved ice treats are what their name implies, being made from ice shavings with a significant dousing of sweeteners. Several countries around the world have their own versions of the treat.
Trivia[]
- During the prohibition era, when the 18th amendment of the US constitution was put into effect and alcohol was banned all over the US, a number of bars and breweries converted into ice cream parlors to legally stay in business. By the second world war, ice cream played a huge part in upkeeping the morale of American soldiers, and every navy vessel since the 1900s has had a freezer room and ice cream machine fitted.
- At least one event or location has maybe served ice cream made from Minotaur breast milk.[1]
- One of Kimihito's grievances with his many unexpected homestays girls is how much food they eat on a regular basis, particularly since it puts more pressure on him to cover the costs through his jobs (he did not voluntarily sign up as a host for the Cultural Exchange Between Species Bill and it is heavily implied that he was barely scraping by for himself before Ms Smith literally dumped Miia on his doorstep unannounced). Ice cream is amongst some of the most-commonly eaten.[2]
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