Today’s Spotlight is on Soft Serve Ice Cream.

Soft serve is a frozen dessert that is similar to ice cream but is softer and less dense. Soft serve is made by churning air into the ice cream mixture as it freezes, giving it a lighter and creamier texture. Soft serve is at least 50% air, while ice cream is between 30% and 50% air.

Soft serve also contains less milk fat than hard ice cream, often 3% to 6%. Hard ice cream is more likely to contain other flavorings, like pieces of chocolate, fruit, nuts, and other sweets. The final product is formed at retail, made from a powdered or liquid premix.

The primary flavor difference between soft serve and hard ice cream is the amount of butterfat and air. Soft serve contains more air than hard pack, which gives it a lighter, fluffier texture. Hard pack is heavier on butterfat. Soft serve is also stored at 25°F, which allows it to be much smoother.

 

History

Historians estimate that the origins of ice cream go back to roughly the second century B.C.E. when Alexander the Great asked for honey and nectar in his ice concoction.

Soft serve has been sold commercially in the United States since the late 1930s. It is made in and dispensed from a freezer in which it is aerated and continuously churned. Tom Carvel is credited with inventing soft serve ice cream. The Greek American businessman created a machine that kept a blend of confectionery cream at very low temperatures without completely freezing it. He patented the machine in 1936. Carvel was also the first to sell soft ice cream in his store. He was among the first to use a franchise system to grow his business.

The story of the beginning of Carvel soft serve ice cream goes that on Memorial Day weekend in 1934, Tom Carvel’s ice cream truck broke down in Hartsdale, New York. He pulled into a parking lot and began selling the slightly melted ice cream to passing drivers. To his surprise, people preferred the softer ice cream. Carvel called it “soft serve”.

The melted ice cream was so popular that Carvel developed a soft serve formula and a patented low-temperature ice cream machine. He also borrowed electricity from a nearby pottery shop to save his stock. The truck stayed in the lot for the rest of the season, and Carvel earned $3,500 that summer.

Dairy Queen quickly followed the trend and produced its own soft serve.

There is just one problem with this story. In 1926, Charles Taylor patented the first soft serve ice cream machine https://patents.google.com/patent/US1752582A/en.

Charles Taylor of Buffalo, New York patented an automatic ice cream maker that is considered to be the first soft serve machine. The machine produced a frozen dessert that was softer and less dense by introducing air during the freezing process. Taylor’s invention made it easier to produce ice cream in large quantities. Today Taylor’s Taylor Company continues to manufacture McDonald’s ice cream machine.

 

The history of soft serve ice cream includes:

• Charles Taylor: Patented the first soft serve machine in 1926.
• Tom Carvel: Built the first soft serve ice cream machine in 1939.
• F. McCullough and Alex: Developed a soft serve formula in 1938.
• Margaret Thatcher: Worked in the lab where soft serve was perfected in the 1950s.
• Soft serve: Exploded in popularity in the 1930s.
• Soft serve ice cream: Contains less fat and more air than hard ice cream.

Soft serve is served at warmer temperatures, which gives it its softness.

 

 

Here are some world records related to ice cream:

• Longest ice cream dessert: A sundae that measured 4,549 feet and 3.36 inches, nearly a mile long.
• Most ice cream eaten in 6 minutes: Miki Sudo ate 16.5 gallons of ice cream in 6 minutes at the Indiana State Fair in 2017.
• Largest ice cream cone: YouTube star Matthew Beem used 1,000 pounds of ice cream to build the world’s largest ice cream cone.
• Tallest ice cream whip: Paolino “Paul” Salamone from Italy made the tallest ice cream whip at 18 cm (7.08 in).
• Most expensive ice cream: Cellato set a record for the world’s most expensive ice cream.
• Tallest ice cream stand: Seemore’s Ice Cream in Pahrump, Nevada is considered the world’s tallest ice cream stand.

 

President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. National Soft Serve Ice Cream Day is celebrated annually on August 19th. The holiday encourages people to grab a soft-serve ice cream cone. So, we ask you which soft serve ice cream company makes your favorite? Let us know in the comments.