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We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Kids will be happy to know that ice cream cones are as good a source of folates as green veggies and whole wheat.

| 14 May 2026 | 05:56
    The peak months for ice cream consumption are June and July, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, which predicts consumption will continue to rise well into the next decade.
    The peak months for ice cream consumption are June and July, according to the International Dairy Foods Association, which predicts consumption will continue to rise well into the next decade. ( Photo: Adams Jones/Wikimedia Commons)
    The chef in the famed Delmonico’s in lower Manhattan is credited with creating the first ice cream cone, wrapping the desert in a waffle casing. But it was an ice cream push cart operator who is credited with patent for an upright cone several years later.
    The chef in the famed Delmonico’s in lower Manhattan is credited with creating the first ice cream cone, wrapping the desert in a waffle casing. But it was an ice cream push cart operator who is credited with patent for an upright cone several years later. ( Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The average American consumes approximately 19 pounds or about four gallons of ice cream per year.

And a staggering majority of Americans, 97% of US adults, say they either “like” or “love” the frozen treat, according to a 2024 survey by the International Dairy Foods Association of more than 2,200 adults. And increasingly, the growth of the tasty offering is being fueled by the handy and delicious ice cream cone, a relatively new addition to the history of ice cream.

Some of the earliest references to ice cream include the Roman emperor Nero (37-68 C.E.), who ordered ice to be brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings and King Tang (618-97 C.E.) of Shang, China who began whipping up ice and milk concoctions, according to ThoughtCo.com

King Tang’s early iced cream recipes were likely carried back from China to Europe by explorers such as Marco Polo and, over time, were served in the fashionable Italian and French royal courts. Modern ice cream first appeared in the 1660’s when Café Procope in Paris, introduced a recipe blending milk, cream, butter and eggs.

The sweet dessert was served in paper or metal cups right up until the ice cream cone was born. In 1894, the first man credited to offer something new–and edible—was Charles Ranhofer, the famed chef at downtown’s high class Delmonico restaurant. He published a recipe for a rolled cone-shape waffle pastry filled with ice cream.

Ranhofer served his wrapping flat, but two years later, another New Yorker, Italo Marchiony, folded his baked cones, stood them straight up on end, filled them with lemon ice, and profitably peddled them from his definitely less classy lower East Side pushcart. That went so well that in 1903 Marchiony was granted US Patent No.746971 for the cone-making mold he had invented, described as “like a waffle iron and producing several small pastry cups with sloping sides.”

Before long, Ranhofer and Marchiony’s waffle cones replaced the paper and metal ones then common in Europe. And no wonder: Not only are the crunchy waffle cone and its younger sibling, the thicker “sugar cone,” tastier than paper or metal, they add important nutrients such as folate.

This B vitamin wins star status due to its ability to protect the heart and, taken during pregnancy, to protect the developing fetus from serious birth defects such as split palate and spina bifida (the failure of the spinal cord to close properly before birth).

And while green veggies and whole grains are excellent sources of folate, kids may be happy to learn that so are ice cream cones. The recommended dietary allowance for folate is 400 microgram for adult men and women and 600 mcg for a woman who is pregnant, 500 for a nursing mother. For children (4-8 years) the RDA is 200 mcg while older kids (9-13 years) it is 300 mcg per day.

One regular sugar cone delivers 8 percent of the RDA for a man and 4 percent for a woman. One small waffle cone has 4 percent for the former and 2 percent for the latter, while a single large cone has as much folate as a cup of broccoli florets and more folate than a serving of romaine lettuce or a 3-inch bagel.

And that’s just one of the nutrients in the package. Per each common cone there’s also dietary fiber (1.6 g), protein (7.9g), Vitamin D (2.0 mg), iron (1.6 mg}, and a healthy 237 mg calcium. Not to mention the fact that the simple cone is no longer simple. It may take some hunting to find them, but catering to the human fervor for flavor, there are now pretzel cones, chocolate-coated cones, and vanilla cones.

And it is still growing. By 2033, the cone market is expected to hit $7 billion worldwide, up from $5 billion in 2025, according to Verified Market Research.