During the heat of summer, cool, smooth ice cream is a favorite treat. But where did this sweet confection come from? Sunday, July 20, is National Ice Cream Day. This week, The Mini Page learns all about the tasty goody we all scream for.

How is ice cream made?

To make ice cream in a dairy might take eight hours from start to finish.

It starts with milk and cream and then goes through these steps:

1. At the dairy, milk and cream are mixed with sweeteners and flavorings.

2. The mixture is heated in a pasteurizer to kill any germs.

3. A homogenizer beats the mixture so it is creamy and smooth.

4. The mixture is cooled to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. In a barrel freezer, blades whip the mixture, adding air to it. Fruits, nuts and other solid foods can be added during this process.

6. The softened ice cream is packaged in cartons.

7. The ice cream is hardened in a blast freezer so it won’t melt on the way to the store.

8. Delivery is made to stores or restaurants.

Ice cream history

Some historians can trace dishes similar to ice cream back to the first and second centuries. In China and Persia, ice or snow were mixed with fruit and honey. Later, The Mini Page® © 2025 Andrews McMeel Syndication Italian explorer Marco Polo brought recipes for frozen desserts from China to Europe.

Making ice was difficult. In the 1700s, people collected frozen river ice in the winter and stored it in sawdust. Horse-drawn wagons delivered it to homes.

In the mid-1800s, Nancy Johnson invented the first hand-cranked freezer for making ice cream. The first manufacturing plant for ice cream opened in 1851 in Baltimore. People in the early 1900s enjoyed going to “ice cream parlors” or got ice cream directly from dairies.

Around the middle of the 20th century, ice cream became available in grocery stores, and people could eat it at home.

Sundaes

Drinking sodas was so much fun that some people thought they should not be served on such a serious day as Sunday.

Soda fountain owners came up with a new dish using only ice cream topped with syrup and candies. Since these were served on Sunday, they were named after that day. The spelling was later changed to “sundae.” 

Ice cream Fact-a-Roonies

• Nearly three-quarters of Americans eat ice cream at least once a week.

• The average American eats about 19 pounds of ice cream per year — about 4 gallons!

• Ice cream sandwiches are the most popular novelty product.

• President George Washington was a fan of ice cream. It was made at his home at Mount Vernon.

• Dolley Madison, the wife of the third president, John Madison, often served ice cream at the White House.

• Cones were probably invented when Ernest A. Hamwi set up his Syrian waffle stand at the 1904 World’s Fair next to one selling ice cream. When the ice cream stand ran out of cardboard dishes, Hamwi shaped one of his pastries into a cone.

• In 1920, Harry Burt Jr. of Ohio came up with the idea of ice cream on a stick. He called it the Good Humor Bar. Burt’s customers did not have to come to him: He used specially decorated white carts to bring the treats right to customers. photo by The Culinary Geek 

Mini Fact:

Chocolate, cookies ‘n’ cream and vanilla are the top three flavors in the United States.