Do you know what’s in your ice-cream?
How about a cold ice cream cone on a hot summer day? It refreshes your body and cools down your soul. Nothing relieves summer heat like ice cold creamy ice cream.
Or maybe you prefer a scoop of ice cream on your fresh hot apple or pumpkin pie each fall? Topping your pie with ice cream adds that special touch and flavor you crave.
Besides pleasing your taste buds and cravings, ice cream could add extra nutritional benefits your body needs. The main and first ingredient in real ice cream should be milk or cream.
Are you eating real ice cream or a dairy dessert that may look and taste like ice cream, but isn’t?
Do you know what ingredients real ice cream contains?
In the Library of Congress there’s a hand-written vanilla ice cream recipe by Thomas Jefferson. It contains only three ingredients; cream, eggs, and sugar.
Most ice cream on the market today combines many ingredients and chemicals to make you think you’re eating ice cream. I dare you. Look at your favorite ice cream carton. Did you find any of the following ingredients? Corn syrup, soy lecithin, partially hydrated vegetable shortening, artificial flavors, mono- and diglycerides. None of these ingredients are real food or needed in real ice cream.
Getting rid of pure ice cream is nothing new
In 2012, the ice cream industry became tainted when one of the largest “all-natural” ice cream companies had to change its packaging from “ice cream” to “frozen dairy desert” after it changed its recipe. Why? Because the ice cream no longer met the minimum requirements by the FDA ( U.S. Food and Drug Administration) for milk content.
In March 2022, the FDA updated their database and information regarding what could be called ice cream. If you want to read the article yourself, here is the link https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-135/subpart-B/section-135.110.
In a nutshell, a finished product has to be between 10 and 20 percent milk, depending on the flavor to be considered ice cream.
Don’t you think 10 to 20 percent milk content is rather low for real ice cream?
Better and fresher than store bought!
You have two choices when it comes to eating real ice-cream, not from a grocery store. Make it yourself or buy it from someone who makes it local with real ingredients. When buying local, ask the ice cream maker what ingredients they use. You want to know the ingredients in the base ice cream. It’s usually a chocolate or a vanilla. Then ask what ingredients are in your favorite ice cream flavors.
If you’re accustomed to a gummy bear, bubble gum, peanut butter chocolate crunch ice cream, there’s a good chance your pure ice cream is now tainted with chemicals and unnatural ingredients.
Make your own ice cream
When making ice-cream you start with a basic recipe of cream, milk, natural sweetener and sometimes eggs. Eggs create a creamy or custard taste, as in French Vanilla. Then decide on your flavoring, such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, pure peanut butter, etc. Flavors you have complete control over.
When you know how easy it is to make homemade ice cream, you’ll never have to worry about chemical ingredients, recalls or unnatural ice cream again. Plus, you can add any flavor you choose …your taste buds are the limit.
Happy ice cream eating.