A History and Celebration of Ice Cream

There are certain dates on the calendar worth circling: birthdays, graduations—your anniversary, of course—and National Ice Cream Day on July 20th! 

This very special holiday was established in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, who declared July 1984 to be “National Ice Cream Month”, with the third Sunday to be “National Ice Cream Day.” This proclamation, though only designated for July 1984, has been celebrated every summer since. 

Did you know that the average American eats about 4 gallons of ice cream each year? We believe it! 

Chattanooga loves Clumpies, and so do visitors. Last year, we produced almost 12,000 hand scooped pints and served almost 350,000 scoops at our three Chattanooga, Tennessee shops. (That’s over 5,700 gallons of pasteurized ice cream mix and the use of 75,015 waffle cones for anyone doing the math). No visit to Chattanooga is complete without a scoop of Clumpies Ice Cream. 

In 2024, ice cream makers in the U.S. churned out more than 1.3 billion gallons of ice cream, contributing more than $11 billion directly to the national economy and supporting more than 27,000 direct jobs—but can you believe there was a time before ice cream? 

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first ice cream scoop was scooped—iced concoctions were allegedly popular with ancient figures like Alexander the Great and King Solomon. China is also noted as a possible origin, with the Tang period (A.D. 618-907) creating a “yoghurt” mix that was refrigerated and served to the King.  

The introduction of ice cream in its “modern” form is also somewhat debatable; some historians credit Marco Polo with bringing the recipe from the Far East, with England discovering it around the same time. Regardless of its origins, ice cream was once a delicacy exclusive to the upper echelons of society, like Charles I. 

Over the centuries, ice cream gradually became easier to make—so long as ice was available. Believe it or not, in the age before refrigeration, frozen water was hard to find in milder climates, especially during the summer. In places like London, ice was a hot commodity—imported across oceans from colder places like the United States, Canada, and Norway and shipped up the River Thames to ice houses, where it was sold to ice cream manufacturers. 

In the United States, it wasn't until the mid 1800s that ice cream would become widely available. C. Jacob Fussell is credited as the first to commercially produce and distribute ice cream in the United States. In 1851, he built an ice cream production factory in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania, using surplus milk and cream from local dairy farmers. His ice cream, worth 25 cents per quart, was packed in ice and shipped by rail to Baltimore. 

Thanks to modern technology, ice cream is now everywhere. In fact, more than 27,000 direct jobs that generate $1.9 billion in direct wages, according to IDFA’s Dairy Delivers®. Today, nearly every store and restaurant serves a sorbet or frozen treat. Yet in the age of mass production, a certain artistry has melted away. 

Since 1999, Clumpies has been steadfast in handcrafting the best ice cream using the highest quality ingredients. We’re proud of our process and craft every bite in house at our production facility at the base of Lookout Mountain.  

Each bite is handmade by our small team. That includes all of what we call in the biz “inclusions.” Not only are we ice cream churners, but we’re bakers too! Every cake, cookie, brownie, jam, swirl and more is created in the ‘hot’ side of our kitchen. So, when you’re eating Key Lime Pie, remember that someone made the lime curd and freshly baked the graham crackers that are crumbled in. 

Once the inclusions are crafted, we start working on the ice cream base. We mix together milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, dry milk solids and stabilizer into our 200-gallon pasteurizer to create our ice cream base. The finished base is then added to our Carpigiani batch freezer, a modern machine that does ice cream churning and freezing. Afterwards, the "inclusions" are hand variegated after the mix is churned. The process is meticulous and time-consuming, only producing nine gallons at a time, but our obsession ensures every scoop of Clumpies is delicious.  

Our assortment of flavors is always changing thanks to seasonal releases, but of course you can always get tried and true favorites with our Scoop Shop Classics. Our summer lineup is in full swing, with exciting new flavors like Watermelon Salt Water Taffy and Cherry Limeade Sorbet, and our fall release is just around the corner.  

This National Ice Cream Day, celebrate with a scoop of Clumpies Ice Cream. If you can’t make it into a shop this Sunday, order a Pint Pack and have it shipped to your door! We’re offering free shipping on July 20th!