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National Vanilla Ice Cream Day

Food · July 23

A day for vanilla ice cream, the flavor flecked with tiny dark seeds that tops pie, fills cones and quietly outsells its flashier neighbors.

National Vanilla Ice Cream Day falls on Friday, July 23, 2027. That is 269 days away.

Vanilla ice cream is the plain-looking scoop with a lot going on. It starts with cream, milk and sugar, and it takes its flavor from vanilla, which comes from the cured pods of a climbing orchid.

Those little black specks in some cartons are the seeds scraped from the pod. Not every vanilla has them. Some versions use extract instead, and the scoop comes out smooth and pale, with a flavor that is softer but still warm and round.

Part of vanilla's charm is how well it gets along with everything else. It sits beside a slice of warm pie, slides into a root beer float, and carries hot fudge, caramel or fresh berries without arguing. Plenty of people still like it best on its own, eaten slowly from a cone before it starts to drip down the side.

If you make it at home, many recipes use a cooked custard base of egg yolks and cream. Heat the custard until it thickens enough to coat a spoon (around 160°F on a thermometer), then chill it well before churning. Eggless styles skip that step and are simply cream, milk, sugar and vanilla.

The flavor is often called plain, which is an odd word for something made from an orchid grown in only a few warm parts of the world. A good bowl of it can taste like custard, flowers and a little bit of smoke all at once.

Ways to celebrate

• Try a scoop of vanilla on its own and notice its flavor.
• Compare a bean-flecked vanilla with one made from extract.
• Make a root beer float with vanilla ice cream.
• Top warm pie or a brownie with a scoop of vanilla.
• Churn a cooked custard vanilla ice cream at home.

Dates

All national days on July 23

Also on July 23

• Hot Enough For Ya Day
• Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day
• Gorgeous Grandma Day

Categories: Food days