Food of The Week: Ice Cream

Mmm, ice cream it is a favorite desert for many and

around the world. There are many different kinds of ice cream some of the most popular are soft-serve, sundae, banana split, gelato, and regular ice cream. I love ice cream it is great and it is even better if it has better ingredients in it. Many brands of ice cream put many bad ingredients in their ice cream such as H.F.C.S, Corn Syrup, Propelene Glycol(used in car anti-freeze), antibiotics, and hormones. At some dairy farms they give their cows growth hormones and antibiotics. Both of which are not good for people when consumed in dairy products such as ice cream. I like to buy all natural or organic ice cream. But if you are a vegan(or not), there are many alternatives to regular dairy ice cream such as soy ice cream, rice ice cream, almond ice cream, and hemp ice cream. 



Freeze-dried astronaut ice cream sandwich. 



There's many different kinds of dairy ice cream as well such as organic, all natural, fair-trade, and local. You can also make your own homemade ice cream which is very fun to make and is usually more delicious. I remember the first time I made homemade ice cream it was vanilla; but it didn't turn out that well. It had a lot of ice crystals in it. There were a few reasons for that happening, first my fridge wasn't as good as the one that I have



Ew, spleen and artichoke ice cream. Andrew

Zimmern ate this in Italy.



now, and I think that I had my freezer too high. But with a little practice, I am now a pro at making ice cream. There are many delicious, decadent flavors of of ice cream, but what about the weird, unusual ones? Well here are some, squid ink, fish, chili pepper, garlic, spaghetti, chicken wing, cheese, caviar, salad, spleen & artichoke, octopus, and horse flesh. Yuk!

But then there are the basic flavors vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint, cookies & cream, cookie dough, peanut butter cup, moose tracks, neapolitan, mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip, and pistachio. There are many different ways to make ice cream you can make it in a regualar ice cream machine, flash freeze it with liquid nitrogen, or make regular ice cream and freeze-dry it just the astronauts have it. Of course most people probably do not have liquid nitrogen or a freeze-drying machine ready-to-use at their disposal.



Cookie dough "dippin dots".



There is also a dot shaped kind of ice cream called "Dippin Dots". Dippin Dots are small dot shaped balls of ice cream. They come in many flavors such as coockie dough(pictured below), cookies and cream, bubble gum, chocolate, and vanilla. Ice cream is very popular in the US and around the world. When manned spaceflight first started, astornauts wanted to be able to eat ice cream in space; and so they invented freeze-dried ice cream. Hence the common name, "Astronaut Ice Cream". Why couldn't they just eat regular ice cream in space; because it would expire quickly, and may be hazardous in space.

Historians estimate that ice cream was invented in the 4th century B.C. However King Tang of China had a method of making ice and milk concoctions. It was probably brought to Europe from China. English settlers brought ice cream to the US and it quickly became popular. Then the first ice cream parlor in the US opened in the 1776 in New York City. Then a while later the ice cream cone was invented and debuted at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Overall ice cream is a great dessert and many people in the US and around the world(and in space.) love it and enjoy it very much. Whether your have a organic soft serve or your have a soy ice cream sandwich; you are still having one of the best desserts available on Earth and beyond.