Business & Tech

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

July is National Ice Cream Month.

Served on a cone. Drizzled with hot fudge. Sprinkled with candies. Scooped into a sundae. There are millions of ways to enjoy ice cream, but there may be no better day than today to indulge in this sweet, chilly treat.

July is National Ice Cream Month and we have former President Ronald Reagan to thank for that. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, Reagan not only designated July as National Ice Cream Month, but he also designated the third Sunday of July as National Ice Cream Day.

"He recognized ice cream as a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by a full 90 percent of the nation's population," according to a release issued by the International Dairy Foods Association.

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Ice cream was a rare and exotic dessert that was mostly enjoyed by the elite until around 1800 when insulated ice houses were invented, accoriding to a backgrounder by the International Dairy Foods Association. 

It wasn't until technological innovations, including steam power, mechanical refrigeration, the homogenizer, electric power and motors, packing machines, and new freezing processes and equipment, that manufacturing ice cream became an industry in the U.S. 

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"Due to ongoing technological advances, today's total frozen dairy annual production in the United States is more than 1.6 billion gallons," according to the International Dairy Foods Association. 

Feeling the urge to celebrate National Ice Cream Month? Here are some local places to spoil yourself:


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