Sunday is National Ice Cream Day – by Jan Wondra

The news about Colorado’s most popular flavor: Vanilla

July 21 is officially National Ice Cream Day. Yes, there is such a thing. It’s probably far preferable to National Brussels Sprouts Day. It’s especially good that the holiday falls in July, traditionally one of the hottest months of the year, rather than January.

As it turns out, there’s no consensus across the 50 states on which ice cream flavor is our favorite in 2024. However, according to Most Popular Ice Cream Flavor by State—a study of consumer preferences and trends in America conducted by Holiday Calendar—vanilla ice cream is the most popular ice cream flavor nationwide, taking the number one spot in 19 states, including here in Colorado.

Why vanilla? That is not known. Perhaps because you can combine most other flavors with vanilla?

Ice cream favorites. Courtesy of Wallpapertip.

Close behind is chocolate, which is the first choice in 15 states. Here too, chocolate comes in second place.

COLORADO’S FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVORS
(Ranking of popularity in 2024)

Vanilla
Chocolate
strawberry
mango
Mint Chocolate Chip

This ranking doesn’t explain why it can be so difficult to find strawberry ice cream in local grocery stores (that’s a personal gripe. Strawberry is my favorite flavor. Since I was born and raised in Wisconsin, that’s probably to be expected).

Rocky Road, another multi-state favorite, isn’t even on the list here in Colorado – but what’s the point of the mango?

In New Mexico, another dry and hot state, coffee is the go-to flavor, which might indicate a need for morning caffeine combined with something cold, while on the Big Island of Hawaii, the most popular flavor is—yes—green tea.

History of ice cream and other interesting facts

When researching the results of the ice cream survey, we discovered that there is not just a national day to celebrate our love of ice cream, but officially an entire month. This no doubt made the ice cream manufacturers happy.

According to Wikipedia:

“In the United States, National Ice Cream Month is celebrated each year in July, and National Ice Cream Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in July. The celebration was established by Joint Resolution 29:8 in the United States Senate, introduced on May 17, 1984, by Senator Walter Dee Huddleston of Kentucky, and by Joint Resolution 543 in the United States House of Representatives, introduced on April 11, 1984, by Representative Kika de la Garza of Texas. The resolution proclaimed the month of July 1984 as “National Ice Cream Month” and July 15, 1984 as “National Ice Cream Day.” It was signed into public law by President Ronald Reagan on July 9, 1984, with Presidential Proclamation 5219.”

But that’s just recent history. Our fascination with ice cream stretches back several thousand years, when a sweet treat was first made from cream or milk, sugar and flavorings. Iced desserts have been around since at least 4,000 BC, when Mesopotamian nobles built ice houses along the Euphrates River to store ingredients that would mitigate the heat of summer.

In 5th century BC Athens, Greece, snow was brought down from the mountains to cool juices and wine, which were sold directly on the street. The Roman Emperor Nero (37-67 AD) enjoyed iced refreshments with honey. In the Tang Dynasty in China, it is recorded that the emperor liked a sweet drink made from iced water buffalo milk mixed with camphor.

The popularity of ice cream spread throughout Europe during Marco Polo’s trading expeditions, and by the 16th century sorbets were already being made in France. Legend has it that in the 17th century, Charles I of England was so fond of this “frozen snow” that he offered his own ice cream maker a lifetime pension if he kept the recipe secret so that ice cream remained a royal prerogative.

Imagine that—ice cream only for royalty? Perhaps there was another reason for throwing off the rule of George III of England—we Americans want our ice cream.