Ice Cream Trivia

Ice cream is not, as many believe, an Italian invention.  It’s thought to have originated in China, around 2000 BC and reported to have been introduced to Italy by the explorer, Marco Polo on his return from a trip to China.

Apparently,  in the late 17th Century, one of the first places in Europe to serve ice cream to the public was Café Procope in France. The ingredients at the time --  milk, cream, butter and eggs, were so expensive that only the wealthy could afford to eat it.

But, once industrial refrigeration was invented, products such as ice cream became easier to store. That meant that over time, ice cream prices started to become less prohibitive. By the 1930’s ice cream was readily available from grocery stores.

During World War 11, ice cream had become so popular, that it became a morale boost for the US troops. Because of this association, Mussolini banned it in Italy because of this association.  This resulted in the American Armed Forces becoming the biggest ice cream producer during the war years.

And, here’s an interesting ice cream fact … if you love your ice cream so much that you eat it too quickly.

Here’s a quick antidote for ‘Brain Freeze’.

Basically, it’s that nasty headache that happens when Ice cream, or anything really cold, is eating to quickly. The heat sensors on the roof of the mouth send messages to your brain, to tell it that heat’s being lost too quickly. The brain then goes into panic mode, triggering the painful ’Brain Freeze’ headache. 

To counter act this, just put your tongue against the roof of your mouth, to warm up these sensors again and the headache will subside :)

Photo courtesy of Christian Bowen.