JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... ice cream!
National Ice Cream Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of July each year, which falls on July 21 this year.
The holiday recognizing the cold, creamy dairy treat dates back to 1984. That's when President Ronald Reagan signed a resolution designating July 1984 as National Ice Cream Month and July 15, 1984, which was the third Sunday of the month, as National Ice Cream Day. Though the resolution only mentioned a specific month and day that year, the celebrations have continued since then.
It also happens that July is the busiest month for ice cream production, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.
But whether Americans will be enjoying the dairy treat in chocolate or vanilla depends on which survey you look at.
In 2017, the IDFA conducted a survey of ice cream makers and retailers across the United States. The survey found America's five favorite flavors are:
1. Vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Cookies and cream
4. Mint chocolate chip
5. Chocolate chip cookie dough
While vanilla ice cream topped the list, the IDFA noted that chocolate-filled flavors dominated the top five bestselling ice cream flavors.
Data released by YouGov Omnibus contradicts that survey, though. YouGov's 2018 survey found that the most popular flavors of ice cream among Americans are:
1. Chocolate
2. Vanilla
3. Butter pecan
But WorkWise found this year that neither chocolate nor vanilla is the most popular flavor. The company compiled a list of popular ice cream flavors using data from Google searches and found the most searched-for ice cream flavors are:
1. Cookies and cream
2. Vanilla
3. Three-way tie between chocolate, peppermint and strawberry
But when WorkWise looked at the most popular ice cream flavor by state and compared chocolate and vanilla, it found that chocolate was the most popular flavor in the U.S. by a margin of 15 states.
No matter which flavor you prefer, according to the IDFA, regular ice cream is the most popular category of frozen desserts.
Will you be celebrating National Ice Cream Day? Tell us your favorite flavor of ice cream by posting in the comments section below. Or you can take this poll: