Summertime may be seen as the perfect season to enjoy a frozen treat, but did you know that the average American consumes around 23 pounds of ice cream in a given year? That means that most of us are savoring those frosty flavors year-round. In fact, research conducted by NPD Group found that 40% of Americans will eat ice cream during any given two-week period. If you think of autumn as a no-ice-cream-zone, we’ve got news for you: actually, eating ice cream during fall may be even more beneficial and satisfying. Here are just four reasons why.
Just because the temperatures have cooled down doesn’t mean you can’t snuggle up with a cup of your favorite flavor. With these reasons in mind, it’s easy to see why frozen desserts should be considered the go-to treat throughout the year.
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Your Ice Cream Won’t Melt As Quickly: Flavorful ice cream ingredients like sugar and salt do change ice cream’s melting point, but milk -- one of ice cream’s main components -- melts at approximately 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Because temperatures and humidity levels are lower in fall than in summer, your dish or cone of ice cream will melt a little bit slower during this season, allowing you to savor every bite.
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Ice Cream Contains Much-Needed Vitamin D: Medical professionals recommend a daily vitamin D intake of 600 IUs for most adults. Although we can naturally get a dose of vitamin D from the sun, those rays can be hard to come by during the darker months. By eating just a half-cup of chocolate or vanilla ice cream, you can get five IUs of vitamin D. Although that’s just a tiny portion of what you need on a daily basis, it’s a lot more fun than taking a supplement!
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It’s Pie’s Perfect Counterpart: For a lot of families, fall is all about pie. A survey conducted by Crisco® and the American Pie Council (yes, that exists!), nearly one-fifth of Americans prefer apple pie. Around 13% prefer pumpkin, and 12% like pecan best. All three of these fillings are staples during the traditional Thanksgiving feast -- and all three taste even better when they’re served a la mode.
- It’s A Delicious Remedy: Okay, ice cream probably can’t be considered a cure for the common cold. But it can make being sick a lot more bearable. Adults tend to catch around two to three colds every year, and strep tends to run rampant during this time of year. It may not technically be medicine, but a scoop of cold, delicious ice cream can soothe a sore throat like nothing else.
Just because the temperatures have cooled down doesn’t mean you can’t snuggle up with a cup of your favorite flavor. With these reasons in mind, it’s easy to see why frozen desserts should be considered the go-to treat throughout the year.