In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. This year, it falls on July 15. I’ve done some searching and only the United States seems to pay this homage to ice cream. In fact, the US is the top ice cream consuming country in the world.

According to makeicecream.com, each American consumes a yearly average of 23.2 quarts of ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, ices and other commercially produced frozen dairy products. Here are the other countries in the top ten: New Zealand, Denmark, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Ireland and Switzerland.

Ice cream has also come a long way from the usual vanilla and chocolate. According to the International Ice Cream Association, here are the top favorite flavors:

Vanilla and chocolate

Butter pecan

Strawberry

Chocolate chip

Praline

Note that there are no Asian countries in the list of top ice cream consumers. But a lot of new ice cream flavors are results of Asian cuisine influence - such as lychee and yam flavors. Here are others you might like:

Green tea

Red bean (adzuki)

Mango (bright yellow) and ginger

Hope you enjoyed these pictures and may you enjoy these treats in real life during the summer (or the winter depending on where you may be).

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