Ice Cream Facts & A Delicious, Easy Mint Ice Cream Recipe!
Summer is almost upon us and it’s time to break out the ice cream maker! Ice cream has been a famous dessert for years. In Ancient Roman times, Emperor Nero made his slaves run to the mountains to get him snow to make an ice cream sundae. In the 1700’s ice cream was first mentioned in an American book about the governor from Maryland making ice cream every night. George Washington was even know to have served ice cream after his dinner parties.
Ice cream comes in so many flavors and everyone loves it from kids to adults. Nowadays you can make the most elaborate ice cream concoctions that are very instagramable!
Here are some fun ice cream facts:
- The most popular flavor is vanilla. As it scoops a 1/3 of all ice cream sales, and puts chocolate in second.
- July is National Ice Cream Month, thanks to President Ronald Regan recognizing ice cream’s nutritious values, way back in 1984.
- If you are worried about gaining weight from eating ice cream, worry no more, as there is an actual Ice cream diet!
- 20% of ice cream eaters don’t mind eating the same ice cream with their pet dog or cat.
- The Chinese are rumored to have invented ice cream. Legend has it Marco Polo, after visiting China, brought back the secret to the rest of the world.
- In order to make one gallon of ice cream, you will need twelve pounds of milk.
- Ice cream is high in calories, with approximately 7 to 13 grams of fat, 20-30 grams of sugar, some protein, calcium and vitamins A, C & K.
One of my all time favorite flavors will always be the classic mint chocolate chip. I am a sucker for a good mint ice cream cone. Here is one of my favorite recipes if you have the time to make it on your own.
Mint Ice Cream Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
- 2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups packed (80 grams) fresh mint leaves
- 5 large egg yolks
For the chocolate chips:
- 5 ounces (140 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
- Warm the milk, sugar, a cup of heavy cream, salt, and mint in a medium saucepan.
- Remove from heat once the mix is steaming, then cover and let sit for an hour to absorb the flavor of the mint.
- Use a strainer to remove the mint from the mix, then press down with a spatula to squeeze out as much flavor and color from the mint as possible. After you are finished extracting the flavor, throw away the mint.
- Pour the rest of the heavy cream into a large bowl and put the strainer over the top of the bowl.
- Heat up the infused milk again. In a different bowl, whisk the egg yolks together and slowly pour some of the warm mint mix into the yolks, whisking it constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.
- Heat up the custard, constantly stirring with a heatproof spatula until the mix thickens and coats the spatula. It should read around 170F (77C) on an instant read thermometer.
- As soon as possible, strain the mix into the cream and stir over an ice bath until it cools down.
- Refrigerate overnight then freeze according to the ice cream makers instructions.
While you wait for your mix to freeze, melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water or microwave on low power, then stir until smooth. Place a storage container in the freezer.
- Add layers of chocolate and ice cream into the container quickly stir it in, break the chocolate up into pieces. Continue layering and scribbling and stirring as you go.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Kristin McGee is a celebrity yoga and Pilates instructor in New York City. She is currently teaching yoga with Peloton. She is the star of over 100 videos, seen in several magazines and tv shows and is a spokeswoman for many brands and causes she believes in. A proud mom to three, she sure keeps herself busy!
One thought on “Ice Cream Facts & A Delicious, Easy Mint Ice Cream Recipe!”
As I’m sure you’ve seen on my Instagram, I’m quite the ice cream snob/queen, so I love this post 🙂 My favorite flavor of all time is Ample Hills’ PB Wins The Cup (it’s frozen custard, which is superior to ice cream, in my opinion).