National Ice Cream Day is July 17: Here's how to celebrate

Sarah Griesemer, Asbury Park Press
·3 min read

Long ago, before I was a food writer, I was an ice cream scooper.

I worked at Baskin-Robbins in the Ocean County Mall and Seaview Sweets on the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk (both are now closed). Here's what I learned:

  • People are very particular about chocolate chip ice cream. Some like big chocolate chips, some like small chocolate chips, and some like shaved chocolate. If we did not carry they one they liked, they would not eat it.

  • Mint chocolate chip is the most popular milkshake (or it was, back then). Chocolate milkshakes are the hardest to make, and I still don't know why. The ice cream hugs the spindle and milk sloshes everywhere.

  • While making a sundae, if you score an "x" into a scoop of ice cream, it keeps the hot fudge from sliding off.

  • Banana splits are not as popular as you think.

  • Rum raisin tastes better than it sounds.

  • Soft ice cream is harder to swirl onto a wafer cone than it looks. And please don't order it on a pointy-bottomed sugar cone, that is a mess waiting to happen.

  • Flipping a soft-serve cone upside down into warm chocolate or cherry dip ‒ the kind that hardens into a shell ‒ is a dangerous game. You win some, but you lose more.

I still have a soft spot for ice cream shops ‒ and for the folks scooping the ice cream ‒ especially on National Ice Cream Day. Celebrated the third Sunday of July each year, this food holiday was designated by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984. To this day, a Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party is held each year in Washington, D.C.'s Union Square to mark the occasion.

Story continues below gallery.

Here at the Shore, Dave Powitz of Skipper Dipper on Long Beach Island says National Ice Cream Day is "one of our busiest days of the year, and we’ll be very well staffed from open to close, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m." Customers can expect free stickers with their ice cream purchase (try a cone "schmear," an ice cream cone lined with Biscoff cookie butter, peanut butter, fudge or Nutella).

At Jersey Freeze in Freehold Township, "every day is National Ice Cream Day," co-owner Matt Cangialosi said, adding that customers can expect giveaways and prizes on Sunday.

The Parlor Cafe + Creamery in Lavallette will offer one free topping per ice cream, and The WooHoo in Beach Haven will release a new flavor called "The Jerz" on Sunday. "It's a sweet, Jersey corn-based ice cream with cinnamon-sugar pork roll and Jersey blueberry swirl," said owner and ice cream maker Megan Kilroy. The shop also will serve ice cream made with blueberries grown in West Creek all weekend.

Here are a few other ways to celebrate:

Hit the road!:New Jersey ice cream shops worth the ride

One scoop or two?: Love ice cream? These Shore spots will satisfy your sweet tooth

Hold the milk These NJ shops make non-dairy ice cream taste like the real deal

Shake it up:5 Shore spots for great milkshakes

Sweet treat:6 Shore spots for ice cream and Italian ice

For the dogs:Doggie Sweets pet cafe opens in Pier Village

Sarah Griesemer joined the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey in 2003 and has been writing all things food since 2014. Send restaurant tips to sgriesemer@gannettnj.com, and for more Jersey Shore food news, subscribe to our weekly Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: National Ice Cream Day 2022: Where to find, how to enjoy at the Shore