National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
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Overview
National Chocolate Ice Cream Day is celebrated every June 7 to honor one of the world's oldest and most popular ice cream flavors, with a surprisingly deep history in frozen dessert-making.
Origin and story
The earliest known frozen chocolate recipes were published in Naples, Italy, in 1693, in Antonio Latini's cookbook "Lo Scalco alla Moderna" ("The Modern Steward").
Latini's two recipes used only chocolate and sugar as a base — one frozen into blocks, the other stirred constantly during freezing for a frothier, mousse-like texture.
Quick facts
- DateJune 7
- TypeFood / Dessert
- Great forIce cream lovers, Foodies, Families
Also on this date
Ways to celebrate
Chocolate wasn't just an early ice cream flavor — for a long stretch of history, it was arguably prescribed as medicine, scooped instead of swallowed as syrup.
Older than vanilla by a full century
Hot chocolate, coffee, and tea were all popular drinks in seventeenth-century Europe, and all three became the basis for some of the earliest frozen desserts. Naples steward Antonio Latini published two chocolate ice recipes in 1693 — years before vanilla appears in the historical record as an ice cream flavor. Both of Latini's recipes needed just chocolate and sugar: one frozen solid into blocks, the other constantly stirred while freezing to create a frothier, mousse-like result.
Once recommended by a doctor
In 1775, Italian physician Filippo Baldini wrote an entire treatise, "De Sorbetti," recommending chocolate ice cream as a remedy for conditions including gout and scurvy. Chocolate ice cream didn't become widely popular in the United States until the late 19th century — ice cream itself was a rare, elite luxury until insulated ice houses made it commercially viable around 1800.
Ways to mark the day
- Try chocolate ice cream plain, the way Latini's original recipe intended, instead of as a mix-in base.
- Compare a dense, churned scoop against a rougher, more granita-like texture, echoing Latini's two original methods.
- Share the "chocolate came before vanilla" fact with someone who assumes vanilla is the "original" flavor.
Helpful resources: Wikipedia, "Chocolate ice cream".
Did you know?
Chocolate consistently ranks as the second most popular ice cream flavor in the United States today, behind vanilla — the flavor it originally preceded by roughly a century.
Fun facts
- Chocolate ice cream is generally considered older than vanilla; the earliest known frozen chocolate recipes were published in Naples in 1693, before vanilla ice cream became popular.
- Antonio Latini's cookbook "Lo Scalco alla Moderna" is one of the first written sources for a frozen chocolate dessert.
- Chocolate consistently ranks as the second most popular ice cream flavor in the United States, behind vanilla.
- The chocolate flavor comes from cocoa, derived from the beans of the cacao tree, which were once used as currency by the Aztecs and Maya.
- June falls in the middle of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and July is designated National Ice Cream Month in the U.S., making early June a fitting warm-up for the frozen treat.
Sources and attribution
Primary source: Wikipedia, "Chocolate ice cream".
External links may lead to third-party websites.
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FAQ
- When is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day?
- It is observed on June 7 each year.
- What is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day?
- Celebrated every June 7, National Chocolate Ice Cream Day honors one of the world's most beloved frozen desserts. The day invites ice cream lovers to indulge in the rich, creamy treat, and to appreciate the long history of chocolate-flavored frozen confections that predate even vanilla in some early recipes.
- How do people celebrate National Chocolate Ice Cream Day?
- People eat chocolate ice cream and learn its surprising history: the earliest known frozen chocolate recipes were published in Naples in 1693, in Antonio Latini's The Modern Steward, making chocolate one of the very first ice cream flavors, ahead of vanilla.
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