Why do we celebrate summer with scoops of mint-chip or swirls of rainbow sherbet? In this breezy “history-side,”

Auntie Jo Jo traces ice cream’s journey from:

• Ancient experiments – snow mixed with milk and rice in China (200 BC) foodunfolded.com and Emperor Nero’s fruity snow cups in Rome (54 AD) frozendessertsupplies.com

• Royal European obsessions – secret gelato recipes guarded by Italian and French courts

• Founding-Father fandom – Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten vanilla recipe and George Washington’s pricey sweet tooth monticello.org

• American innovations – the waffle-cone breakout at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair idfa.org and the very first ice-cream truck jingling down Ohio streets in 1920 magazine.northeast.aaa.com

  
  

Plus rapid-fire fun facts (ever heard of glow-in-the-dark ice cream?) and a reminder that July is National Ice Cream Month.

So grab a spoon—history’s never tasted so sweet!

Sources used:• International Dairy Foods Association, “The History of the Ice Cream Cone” idfa.org
• Monticello.org, “Ice Cream” entry on Thomas Jefferson monticello.org
• Your AAA Network, “The History of Ice Cream Trucks” magazine.northeast.aaa.com
• FoodUnfolded, “The History of Ice Cream: From Milk Ice to Magnums” foodunfolded.com
• Frozen Dessert Supplies Blog, “A Sweet History of Ice Cream” (Emperor Nero) frozendessertsupplies.com