“Dad, I want ice cream! Now!!” my girl screamed at me. Being a stubborn father with a backbone, I tried to convince her rationally. “But honey, it’s hot outside, so the ice cream will melt in a few seconds and get your clothes dirty. Or actually, it’s cold, so it’s too cold to eat ice cream,” I argued confidently. It didn’t work, and I already knew where this was going. The horror movie began. Of course, I bought her the ice cream, and she licked it a few times, ensuring her dress ate almost the same amount of ice cream. My girl gave me the leftovers: the whole ice cream minus a few licks. “Next time, we’ll buy a popsicle,” I said in a desperate tone, eating the ice cream with no choice, trying to clean my clothes that had already gotten dirty.

There aren’t many more excellent treats than quality ice cream on a hot summer day (well, and sometimes in winter). Ice cream is one of the most beloved delicacies of children and adults because who can say no to a refreshing and sweet dish (usually)?

Still, we are not here to talk about the positive sides of ice cream because there are enough other places for that. As is tradition, we will present you with interesting and sometimes unusual facts about ice cream, including its frightening sides – from delicacies inspired by the world of horror to movies in which the main villain is ice cream or at least someone related to it. You are welcome to dig with us into the world of ice cream, learn some facts about ice cream that link it to our favorite genre… and scream.

What Is Ice Cream?

We will start the review with some elementary and general facts about ice cream, including the million-dollar question: what the hell is it, or what is ice cream made of?

So, according to the official definition, ice cream is a frozen, whipped food. Ice cream is based on an emulsion (a mixture of liquids that do not mix or dissolve), consisting of ingredients such as ice crystals, air, various sweeteners, fat, and solids that are not pure fat. The emulsion usually consists of cow’s milk, including cream or yogurt versions, but you can also use soy milk and other types. “Sorbet” is dairy-free ice cream made with water and usually fruit.

When Was Ice Cream Invented?

The history of ice cream is very long. If you thought ice cream was an invention of recent centuries, think again. The roots of ice cream are rooted in very early times. Many believe that in ancient Persia, somewhere in the fifth century BC, they made one of the first “ice cream” versions: the Persians would mix concentrated grape juice with snow or ice, which they kept in underground warehouses, creating a very popular dessert.

A few centuries later, Italians would mix ice with fruit juices. This happened at first, mainly in Turin, but from there, ice cream reached ancient Rome. Emperor Nero would order his servants to bring snow from the mountains, which they mixed with fruit, similar to the well-known “recipe,” and honey. History shows that Nero used ice he stored under his palace.

The first commercial production of ice cream in the 16th century is attributed to Giambattista della Porta, a scholar, scientist, and author from Naples. He developed a technique of putting a bottle in a bowl with ice combined with salt or potassium nitrate, and then stirring began, which was the basis for the mass production of ice cream. From there, ice cream moved to France, and the French added milk – already very reminiscent of the ice cream we know.

Here are some other vital points in the very long timeline of ice cream:

🍨 1843 – An American housewife succeeds in developing a manual machine for making ice cream. Unfortunately, she could not register the patent in her name, and a few years later, it was registered in the name of another American. Ice cream became much more accessible to the general public.

🍨 1903 – The invention of the traditional ice cream cup, made of waffles. There is a theory that ice cream was invented “accidentally” by an ice cream seller who encountered a shortage of paper cups and found a creative solution, which over time became the standard.

🍨 1922 – The invention of the ice cream stick, which today is mainly associated with popsicles and sundaes

There Are Many Types Of Ice Cream

Making ice cream is a profession, even an art. One of the consequences of this is that you can find different types of ice cream today, which vary according to the ingredients, the method of preparation, the flavor, and so on.

Here are some of the more common types of ice cream:

🍦 Standers ice cream – probably the most common type in many regions. Some laws define ice cream as such when containing 8% milk fat, 10% dairy products, and up to 13% carbohydrates, provided they are lactose-free. If you are looking for “fine” ice cream, you will need a fat composition of at least 12%.

🍦 Gelato – the Italian “ice cream,” also common in other versions worldwide, is based on a different production process. The various components are pasteurized and only then cooled and mixed simultaneously. Gelato is more compact than traditional ice cream, that is, with a minimal amount of air. The taste is reminiscent of ice cream but more massive.

🍦 Mastic ice cream – This is not the gum-flavored ice cream you might know in stores, but the popular name for resin-based ice cream. The ice creams, common in Middle Eastern cuisine, are named after the “mastic” spice and are based on ingredients such as powdered ground orchid or cornflower tubers, distilled water, and mastic resin. The result is a “sticky” and less airy texture.

🍦 American ice cream – American ice cream, developed by British researchers, is exceptionally soft and airy, thanks to a method that allows you to double the air volume. American Ice cream is mostly cheaper, thanks to the possibility of reducing the content of the ingredients that make up the ice cream and the fact that you can only serve this ice cream using a machine.

🍦 Sorbet – As mentioned, water-based ice cream (and usually fruit), but without milk. We make ice cream by freezing it. If we add eggs or milk before freezing, we get “Sherbet.”

🍦 Hot ice cream – a substitute for ice cream, which allows the consumption of a similar dessert even when the weather is cold. The principle here is that we make the ice cream from egg-whipped cream, which is poured into cups with a watering can and covered with a chocolate substitute. Technically, despite the name, it is not ice cream in the complete sense of the word.

Typical Ice Cream In Different Countries

Another division of ice cream is according to its origin or, in some cases, how people eat it in a particular country or culture. Different countries have unique preferences, which usually reflect the local culture and cuisine.

Here things can get more interesting, and probably also stranger. If in the West the usual way to eat ice cream is in the form of balls, as a waffle cup or a cup, then in the Far East – and especially in China – the ice cream is put in the dough, fried with oil and created a fried dish that can have any flavor.

Here are some examples of local ice cream you can find worldwide:

🍦 Persian Ice Cream – Traditional Persian ice cream is called “Bastani Sonnati Zaferani.” Its central ingredient is saffron; you will probably find sweet cream and milk, rose water, and pistachios. The ice cream is served in a pair of round wafers, sometimes alongside “Falooda,” the familiar Persian dessert that combines rose water and syrup with noodles (a kind of noodle ice cream), garnished with lime juice, chopped nuts, or saffron.

🍦Indian ice cream (“Kulfi”) is based on slow churning and relatively intense flavors, such as cardamom, saffron, or pistachio, in the traditional versions. Over the years, new Kulfi flavors have been added, such as avocado or peanut.

🍦Japanese ice cream – The Japanese are known for their interesting culinary choices, and in the case of Japanese ice cream, you can find favorite flavors such as matcha (green tea) or black sesame. There are also bizarre flavors, such as ice cream flavored with wasabi, rice, soy sauce, squid ink, tofu, and onion.

Of course, there are also some very unusual local initiatives. For example, a small ice cream parlor in Germany has developed cricket ice cream, which is reportedly made from tempting ingredients like cricket flour (with cream, honey, and vanilla extract) and comes with a few warm, dried crickets on top of the ice cream. The man behind the recipe is known for his strange combinations, with previous creations including 24-karat gold-plated ice cream) or the Italian blue cheese Gorgonzola.

A quick search online found a few more strange flavors, such as pizza, lobster, cheese, spaghetti with cheese, smoked salmon, curry, and more.

What Are The Most Popular Ice Cream Flavors?

Most people stick with the familiar classics regarding ice cream flavors. In most countries, vanilla is the most common ice cream flavor, followed by chocolate (which, historically, was invented before vanilla ice cream). Of course, this is just the starting point because vanilla and chocolate can be the basis for various interesting flavors and combinations.

The origin of vanilla ice cream is in France. Interestingly, one of the prominent people responsible for the arrival of vanilla ice cream to the United States was the third American president, Thomas Jefferson. He tasted the ice cream during a visit to the land of the tricolor, researched the recipe, and brought it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson is even responsible for the first written recipe for vanilla ice cream, according to some versions, and you can still find it in the US Library of Congress today.

Ice Cream Consumption Around The World

Unsurprisingly, ice cream consumption varies between countries and over time. The current leader in per capita ice cream consumption is New Zealand, where the average is about 28 liters per person per year.

In the United States, the figures indicate about 20 liters per person. Some estimates say about 90% of Americans have ice cream in their freezer.

The Million-Calorie Question: Is Ice Cream Fattening?

Reviewing facts about ice cream and not addressing its health aspect is impossible. It may be worth consuming ice cream only in moderation if you are on a diet or “just” trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Ice cream has relatively large calories, especially in versions based on ingredients with impressive amounts of sugar and fat. On the other hand, as long as you don’t overdo it and create a balanced and healthy diet, there is no reason for you to give up ice cream.

So, how many calories are in an ice cream cone? Of course, the answer varies depending on the type of ice cream, the toppings, or how we eat it: a waffle ice cream cone also has calories. On average, in 100 grams of ice cream, you will find about 200 calories. You can find low-fat and sugar versions today, and natural ice creams, which are considered healthier.

How Many Licks Does It Take To Finish An Ice Cream Cone?

Well, for some reason, tests have been conducted on this subject. On average, about 50 licks will allow you to finish one scoop of ice cream. Other variables also impact this, such as the size of the ice cream, the temperature of the ice cream, and the eater’s technique. And I don’t mean anything sexual here, you perverted.

Behind International Ice Cream Day Stands An American President

Every year, we celebrate International Ice Cream Day around the world. It happens on July 17, with July itself being International Ice Cream Month. This is when you can cynically refer to the “commercial holidays,” which are often the work of food manufacturers and stores, trying to create hype that will increase their sales.

The origin of National Ice Cream Day may surprise you. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan declared Ice Cream Month and Ice Cream Day on the third Sunday of that month (traditionally, in the United States, Sunday is the favorite day to order ice cream). Reagan planned to celebrate the day only once, but then manufacturers and brands came into the picture, starting a continued tradition.

There Are Horror Themed Ice Cream Flavors

In the culinary world, especially in the US, ice cream manufacturers offer flavors inspired by horror themes, especially around Halloween. You can find, for example, flavors like “Dracula’s Blood” (red raspberry ice cream), “Zombie Brain” (pistachio ice cream with strawberry jam), and “Witch’s Eye” (black licorice ice cream with candies), and more.

Ben and Jerry’s Horror Ice Cream

In 2015, we heard of Ben and Jerry’s horror ice cream buckets. It has some super cool concepts, like:

🍦”Never Sleep Again”: A coffee-flavored ice cream paying homage to “The Nightmare on Elm Street”. You can understand why they chose coffee.

🍦”Human Centi-Peach”: A peach-flavored ice cream inspired by The Human Centipede.​

🍦”Heeeere’s Brownie”: A chocolate brownie ice cream with walnut sprinkles, referencing The Shining.​

🍦”Camp Crystal Cake” is a flavor featuring cherries and almonds, which is nodding to Friday the 13th.

The designs got a lot of buzz, but the truth is that they were not real. Ben & Jerry’s has not officially produced horror-themed ice cream flavors. The designs we mentioned are part of fan-made concepts created by horror enthusiasts John Squires and Frank Browning. Today, you can find such false products more often in the AI era and with a few clicks and a short prompt, but about a decade ago, it was much more unique.

Salt & Straw Horror Ice Cream

Salt & Straw has a history of embracing bold and unexpected ingredients in their seasonal offerings. For instance, previous Halloween menus have featured flavors like Dracula’s Blood Pudding, which incorporated real pig’s blood, and Creepy Crawly Critters, highlighting the use of edible insects.

Last Halloween, the “Salt & Straw” chain launched a collection of five scary flavors:

🍦The Great Candycopia is a salted butterscotch ice cream generously mixed with house-made versions of classic candies like Kit Kats, Reese’s, Snickers, and Heath bars. ​

🍦 Jack o’ Lantern Pumpkin Bread: Pumpkin-spiced ice cream blended with sweet pieces of freshly baked pumpkin bread and swirls of whipped cream cheese frosting, embodying the quintessential fall flavors.

🍦 Creepy Crawly Critters: A daring creation featuring matcha ice cream embedded with toffee-brittle mealworms and crunchy chocolate crickets sourced from Don Bugito, a company dedicated to promoting edible insects. ​

🍦 Essence of Ghost: This is a scotch-spiked black licorice sorbet offering a hauntingly unique flavor profile for adventurous palates.

🍦 Blackberry & Masa Tamale Sherbet (Vegan): A vegan-friendly option combining coconut cream sherbet with marionberry sherbet, inspired by the traditional tamales of Michoacán’s Purépecha region

Making Your Scary Ice Cream

What’s important is that you can make the ice cream you eat or even make from scratch at home scary. On various sites, for example, on Pinterest, we found cool ideas such as upside-down cups that create a witch’s hat, eye-shaped ice cream (which could be an excellent dessert for the monstrous pasta from our article), ice cream spiders, or ghost popsicles Ghosts.

Here are some YouTube video tutorials that will show you how to make scary ice creams:

• A tutorial on how to make ice cream with a bleeding eye, spider ice cream, ice cream with a snake (rubber, relax!), and some other superb ideas

• Very scary and cool popsicles, or rather cake sticks. The designs here are inspired by the world of horror, such as Frankenstein, the mummy, and pumpkin. And it must be very popular because this video has about 28 million views so far!

• A particularly bloody vampire ice cream cake

Horror Movies About Ice Cream: There Is Such A Thing

Fortunately, we are not yet aware of a horror movie in which the main villain is an ice cream that licks people who buy it to death (although that will happen someday). We found a few films that take the making of ice cream and the place of the traditional ice cream truck in darker directions.

Ice Cream Man (1995)

“Ice Cream Man” is a dark horror comedy directed by Norman Apstein (in fact, his only film) and starring the veteran Clint Howard (whom we most recently saw in a small role in “Terrifier 3”, as one of the guys in the pub who make the fatal mistake of teasing Art the Clown). The film’s hero is Georgie, who is released from a psychiatric institution and decides to reopen the old ice cream factory to make the children happy.

The twist, as you may have deduced from the fact that the film appears in this article or from its relatively cool poster, is that Georgie uses some unconventional ingredients in his ice creams, including human flesh. Although it’s hard to argue that the film is too good, some would say it has become a cult film.

The Ice Cream Truck (2017)

We continue with “The Ice Cream Truck,” an independent, low-budget American indie film starring Deanna Russo (not to be confused with the singer Diana Ross, who is a little more famous than her). Our heroine is Mary, who returns to her suburban town, intending to start a new chapter in life. She encounters a mysterious ice cream vendor and his creepy ice cream truck, which probably hides secrets related to low-budget horror films.

We won’t tell you what these secrets are because we haven’t seen the film yet, but from the trailer, it seems that the red on the mysterious guy’s apron is not strawberry ice cream.

“We All Scream For Ice Cream” From “Masters Of Horror”

Perhaps the most worth watching is a short film (just under an hour) in the enjoyable “Masters of Horror” series called “We All Scream For Ice Cream.” The episode was directed by Tom Holland (not the dude who plays Spider-Man and is engaged to Zendaya, but the older one, who directed and wrote the first “Child’s Play,” “Fright Night,” and many other films). It deals with a childhood prank gone wrong that led to the death of the city’s delivery boy, who is now returning in a new form.

Famous Ice Cream Scenes In Movies

After we’ve seen a few films and content that center around ice cream, it’s time to explore some more general scenes that involve the delicious dessert – and, by the way, definitely not just in the world of horror films.

50 Shades Of Grey Ice Cream Scene (Speaking Of Horror!)

A few romantic scenes feature ice cream, some of which border on the sensual, bizarre, and kinky. Suppose you’ve seen the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movies, heaven forbid (in my opinion, these movies are less relevant to the site’s target audience). In that case, you will probably remember when Christian (Jamie Dornan) comes to the kitchen in the middle of the night to look for something to eat. In horror movies, we might have gotten a predictable jump scare of a character hiding behind the open refrigerator door.

However, in the kinky world of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” we see Anna (Dakota Johnson) sensually eating ice cream in the kitchen and, a few moments later, licking it off Christian’s body and probably licking some other balls later.

Up Ice Cream Scene

We’ve seen that eating ice cream can be exciting, like the final scene of “Up,” in which Carl, Russell, the lovely dog, and the rest of the gang celebrate the end of their joint journey to Paradise Falls in Venezuela (inspired by the actual location “Angel Falls”) by eating ice cream.

Little Miss Sunshine Ice Cream Scene

In the excellent film “Little Miss Sunshine,” we see a touching moment when Evelyn (Abigail Breslin, here as a child, who later became a kind of Scream Queen) sits with her family in a diner and wants to order ice cream. The father, Richard (Greg Keener), tactlessly remarks that anyone wishing to be a beauty queen should avoid ice cream. Evelyn is hurt, but the rest of the family joins in, encourages her, and eats ice cream, which is one of the more moving moments in this charming film.

Legion Ice Cream Man

Speaking of diners, we can’t help but mention “Legion,” the 2010 action/horror fantasy in which supernatural creatures attack a group of people in a diner. At some point, the angel Michael (Paul Bettany) arrives, explaining that the only hope for humanity is a child about to be born someday.

In one of the first moments the group encounters the monstrous forces, we see a mysterious ice cream truck arrive at the diner, from which “the Ice Cream Man” (Doug Jones) emerges. He looks normal, if a little creepy, until his body lengthens and his limbs stretch inhumanly. The truth is that this scene is one of the better scenes in the film, which wasn’t bad but left me, and probably other viewers, feeling disappointed.

The Shining Ice Cream Scene

Continuing with Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” based on Stephen King’s book, undoubtedly one of the horror classics. One reason for this is that thanks to Kubrick’s ingenious script and direction, even ordinary moments here seem creepy.

At one point in the film, Danny, the boy with supernatural abilities (Danny Lloyd, who pretty much retired from cinema after this film), and his mother Wendy (a tormented Shelley Duvall), tour the food warehouses of the Overlook Hotel, where they are accompanied by the head chef, Dick Halloran. He explains the products to them, while Kubrick builds the atmosphere with slow close-ups.

At one point, Dick Hallorann looks at Danny, leans over, and telepathically sends him a message (“How’d you like some ice cream, Doc”). This scene shows that Dick Hallorann knows a little too much for Danny (the nickname “Doc” is used for him by his family) and shows his special powers, especially when Halloran says the same sentence at the end.

Another Scary Ice Cream References

Ice cream trucks have also taken part in several horror films, such as the cult film “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” from 1988, which we have already seen make interesting use of another popular food, pizza. In the movie, the Terenzi brothers – despite their terrible driving skills – use a truck to seduce women because we know that no woman can say “no” to ice cream given to her by a man (at least, different types of ice cream). At one point, the vehicle transforms into the “Jojo Ice Cream Truck,” and the guys use it as part of their fight against the evil clowns.

There are a few other reasonably minor horror films that center around a murderous ice cream man, like 2015’s “Kruel,” about a crazed killer who poses as an ice cream vendor to get close to his future victims, or “Mr. Ice Cream Man,” the only thing I understood from the trailer was that it was a very low-budget film.

An ice cream-eating scene can even have the potential to become an internet meme, like the scene where the goth guy with the corpse makeup sits next to a beautiful blonde girl while they both eat ice cream in the surprising metal horror comedy “Deathgasm” from 2015.

By the way, you will also find some interesting suggestions in the computer and video game sector. The Ice Cream game series is receiving excellent reviews, with the first episode, for example, putting the player in the shoes of a guy who discovers that the neighborhood ice cream vendor has kidnapped his friend, frozen him, and made him disappear. The player’s job is to track down the villain, the friend, and possibly other children who have become human ice cream.

Ice Cream As A Tourist Attraction: Ice Cream Museums Around The World

Ice cream has become a central part of the global tourism map. It starts with our search for delicate and preferably unique ice cream parlors, which fit like a glove in the Instagram era, where people will gladly eat ice cream made of crap if it looks good on Instagram and will bring them some likes.

It may have happened to you on one of your trips abroad: you arrived at a specific street and saw a long line of people who were mainly busy taking pictures of their ice cream. Usually, it happens when the ice cream has a twist, such as unique flavors, cool shapes (for example, the famous flower ice cream of Budapest), or interesting ways of serving it, say ice cream inside bread or ice cream scope with coffee inside.

You can tour ice cream factories and participate in various workshops that show you how to make ice cream in a particular way. Several ice cream museums worldwide allow you to learn the history of ice cream and its preparation methods with interactive activities and other surprises.

The Museum of Ice Cream in New York City, located in the heart of Manhattan’s SoHo district, is spread over three floors and features over 10 interactive exhibits about the world of ice cream. You can sample a wide variety of flavors, some of which are unusual and developed especially for the museum, and also take part in activities such as “swimming” in a pool with millions of colorful candies, a pink slide that runs between floors, or swings shaped like ice cream. There’s a candy cave, a rainbow and cloud corridor, a “jungle” of colorful bananas hanging from the ceiling, a heavenly and colorful “subway car,” a milkshake lounge, and more. Of course, this museum will help you get stunning and colorful photos for Instagram, so you’ll likely spend a lot of your time here taking photos (pink is one of the dominant shades).

Alongside the museum in New York, the chain behind it has opened other museums on the same principle in places like Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and even Singapore.

You Can Become An Ice Cream: Totally Cool Ice Cream Products

Undoubtedly, ice cream is more than a food (and, unfortunately, more than a scary object). Various ice cream-related products go far beyond ready-to-eat bars or ingredients that will allow you to recreate ice cream recipes you see online. In most cases, ice cream products are “cute” in nature, meaning their primary target audience can be children (but certainly not only).

Among the ice cream products we found in a quick search on the Internet:

🍨 Ice cream costumes of various types and for diverse target audiences, such as ice cream costumes for babies, girls, women, or even men

🍨 Ice cream dolls, which in many cases are as cozy and furry as you would expect a doll based on ice cream to be

🍨 Home decor products include ice cream pillows, bedding, shower curtains, etc.

🍨 Collectibles of characters holding ice cream, like some of the “Hello Kitty” characters (God forbid)

🍨 Kitchenware Products, some specifically designed for ice cream, of course, like ice cream spoons, straws, and plates

🍨 Wooden ice cream stands, which are very suitable for developing imagination and essential skills (such as motor skills) in children

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