National Vanilla Ice Cream Day

July 23rd is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day in America.

Ice cream, at least in the United States (the actual meaning and name can vary from country to country) is normally made from dairy products - milk or cream - although non-dairy alternatives are available. This base is then mixed with other ingredients, for flavour, colour and sweetening, and then stirred whilst cooling so that air is added and ice crystals are broken up to create a semi-solid foamed product. The consistency can vary a lot.

With vanilla ice cream, the main additional ingredient is vanilla. Vanilla is a flavouring derived from a type of orchid and actually means "little pod." The pods are harvested, but the genuine flavour is the second most expensive spice after saffron due to how labour intensive the vanilla is to grow. Because of this, most vanilla ice cream does not use vanilla pods, but instead use cheaper substitutes such as vanilla essence.

Vanilla ice cream, despite how boring it may seem to be compared to other flavours available, regularly tops the list of the most popular ice cream flavours in North America (and other parts of the world).