The Mister Softee Trucks Played Music…See The Lyrics Below

National Soft Ice Cream Day is observed annually on August 19th.  Soft service ice cream is the result of air being introduced to the dairy product during the freezing process.

• 60s AD – Though ice cream is thought to have been around since 200 B.C., one of the earliest tales of it is between 50 and 80 A.D., when Emperor Nero of Rome sent runners to the mountains for snow, which he would then eat flavored.
• 16th Century – After Marco Polo came back to Italy from the East with an ice-cream-like recipe, it took off in Europe by the end of the 16th century.
• 1740s – America, which was later the birthplace of soft-serve ice cream, wasn’t introduced to the dessert until the 1740s.
• 1553 – ‘Cream Ice’ was featured on the table of Charles I, and, in 1553, Catherine de’ Medici brought it to France after marrying Henry II of France.
• 1777 –  George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon featured two ice cream pots, and he reportedly spent over $200 on ice cream over one summer!
• 1934 – On Memorial Day weekend, Tom Carvel had a flat tire on his ice cream truck in Hartsdale, New York.  After pulling into a parking lot, he began selling the softened ice cream to vacationers driving by.  With amazement, seeing the love that people had for soft ice cream, he concluded that a fixed location selling the new-found dessert was potentially a good business idea.
• 1936 – Carvel opened his first store on the original broken down truck site, selling his secret formula soft serve ice cream dispensed from his patented super low-temperature ice cream machines.
• 1938 – A competitor, Dairy Queen, also claims to have invented soft serve, but they date their creation to 1938, a year after Carvel went into business.
• 1940s – Margaret Thatcher, the former U.K. prime minister, works for a company dedicated to developing a soft-serve recipe compatible with American machines.
• 1950s – Illegal Soft-Serve- Until the 1950s, the Minnesota legislature prohibited the sale of ‘ice milk’ from trucks, specifying that the dessert had to be sold prepackaged
• 1960s – Mechanized air pumps are added to the soft-serve machines, allowing better aeration and boosting sales for ice cream machine manufacturers.
• It’s All About the Air. Aside from the lower fat content and slightly higher temperature, the main reason soft serve is, well, soft, is because it contains a lot more air than traditional ice cream. Called “overrun,” it’s what makes soft serve so fluffy.
• It’s Called ‘American Ice Cream’ in Parts of Europe, Soft serve is actually called “American ice cream” (translated into their local language) in many parts of Europe and Israel.
• It’s called “soft ice” in Germany and parts of northern Europe, “machine ice cream” in Greece and Romania, and “soft whip” in Ireland.
• In Britain, Ireland, Australia, and South Africa, many ice cream vendors sell what’s called a “99,” which is a cone of soft serve ice cream with a Cadbury Flake bar stuck into it.
• It’s called a Creemee in New England, The term originated in Vermont. If you’re up there and come across any shops selling a maple creemee, which is essentially soft serve flavored with real maple syrup, make sure you try one.
• According to one statistic, 70% of people will choose soft-serve over hard ice cream.
• An average serving of soft-serve ice cream contains 35% air — this keeps it fluffier than hard ice cream!
•  Soft-serve has 3–6% milkfat, while ice cream has 10–18%.
• The Mister Softee Jingle has lyrics.
  • Check it out:

The creamiest, dreamiest soft ice cream
You get from Mister Softee
For a refreshing delight supreme
Look for Mister Softee

My milkshakes and my sundaes and my cones are such a treat
Listen for my store on wheels ding-a-ling down the street

The creamiest, dreamiest soft ice cream
You get from Mister Softee
For a refreshing delight supreme