Ice cream Facts for Kids

An ice cream dessert.

Strawberry ice cream

Kids eating ice creams on the sidewalk

Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from cream, with added flavors and sweeteners. This mixture is quickly frozen while it is stirred, so that large ice crystals do not form. Some ice cream is made with carrageenan, a gum found in seaweed so that it is not sticky.

There are many different flavors of ice cream. Ice cream often has things added to it for flavor, like chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, cookie dough, sweets, sauces or small candies.

Traditionally, the three most common flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. There are ice cream flavors that are very similar, such as French vanilla, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, chocolate chip, and strawberry cheesecake.

Chocolate chips, or little pieces of dark or white chocolate, are a common additive to ice cream. Three common chocolate chip ice creams are chocolate chip (made with vanilla ice cream), mint chocolate chip or mint 'n chip (made with peppermint, spearmint, or creme de menthe ice cream), and chocolate chocolate chip. Peppermint ice cream without chips is also a common flavor.

Many ice creams contain fruits. Besides strawberry, common fruit flavors are cherry, raspberry, blackberry, and peach. Some citrus fruits, such as orange and lime, are made into sherbets instead of ice cream.

Nut flavors include butter pecan, butter almond (both of which contain vanilla or caramel ice cream with nuts), pistachio, and peanut butter.

Coffee (mocha, cappuccino, espresso) and caramel (English toffee, butterscotch, rum) are also common ice cream flavors.

There are many ice cream flavors that contain some mixture of chocolate, fudge, coffee, caramel, nuts, and marshmallows. The most common of these is Rocky Road (chocolate ice cream, nuts and marshmallows), but others include Mocha Almond Fudge (made with almond nuts, fudge, and coffee ice cream) and Tax Crunch (coffee, nuts, and malt powder)

Some ice creams are a mixture of two or more ice creams. Neapolitan is a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry; while spumoni is a mixture of chocolate and various fruit flavors.

Outside of the U.S. and Canada, flavors include dulce du leche (Mexico), macupino and lychee (both China)

Ice cream mixed with milk and often sugar and syrups is called Milk Shake.

Ice cream truck

Many ice cream parlors, such as Cold Stone Creamery, allow people to make something called a sundae, which is at least one flavor of ice cream mixed with things such as nuts, dark or white chocolate chips, bananas, cherries, pineapples, candies, cookies, marshmallows, and various syrups such as hot fudge, maple and butterscotch. Also, ice cream is often placed on a piece of pie, which is called "pie a la mode".

Images for kids

Kulfi in a matka pot from India.
Noblewomen eating ice cream in a French caricature, 1801
Title page to The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse
Soft serve ice cream was invented in the United States.
Agnes Marshall, "queen of ices", instrumental in making ice-cream fashionable
Children in Chicago surround an ice cream vendor in 1909.
A Boku Europa ice cream maker in Aachen, Germany
Selection of ice cream flavors available at an ice cream shop in Fruitland Park, Florida
A bicycle-based ice cream street vendor in Indonesia
Ice cream van vendor delivery
Black sesame soft ice cream, Japan
Ice cream sandwich
Chocolate-glazed Magnum ice cream bar
Italian ice cream, gelato in Rome, Italy.
In Iran, the most popular ice cream-like treat is faludeh (also called paloodeh, paludeh or fālūdhaj), which contains vermicelli noodles, sugar syrup and rose water. It is often served with lime juice and sometimes ground pistachios.
A green tea ice cream cone
A bowl of Dippin' Dots Rainbow Ice ice cream

Ice cream facts for kids

Related pages

Images for kids

See also