Come summer and one of the first things that comes to mind to beat the heat is icecream. We all love icecream. Even those who are a bit on the heavy side and watch their weight don’t mind sneaking into an icecream parlour once in a while. Enjoying the sweet, smooth and refreshingly cold icecream that melts easily on the tongue is one of the greatest pleasures in life.

I find different hues of icecream in equally tempting flavours very irresistible.

In the past it was eaten only during the summers, but now you will not find it strange to see people licking icecream all the year round. Icecream first originated in the Orient. Marco Polo, the great Italian traveller, first saw people eating it in China and took it from there to Italy. From Italy it was carried to France, where it became very popular with the rich. They even made an effort to keep the recipes a secret from the common people. But, the common people learned about the new delicious food and icecream became popular with everyone. Soon it spread all over the world.

The first factory to manufacture icecream was started in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1885. However, the proper development of the icecream business started with advancements in refrigeration. The basis of icecream is cream, milk, sugar and sometimes eggs. Strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, berries, fruit ingredients and nuts are added as flavours.

The most popular flavours are chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. A small amount of gelatin is used in order to retain the smoothness by preventing the formation of crystals.

When you eat a third of a pint of vanilla ice cream, you get about as much calcium, protein and vitamin B as you get from half a cup of whole milk, and as much vitamin A and calcium in one cup of milk. So the next time when you are relishing the creamy goodness of your favourite flavour of icecream, and someone comes and tells you not to have too much icecream, you can explain just how healthy and delicious it is!