National Ice Cream Soda Day is a day that falls on June 20th and is dedicated to a tasty treat that has been a part of American lives for over 147 years. It’s a holiday on which people are encouraged to make themselves a nice, frosty cold glass of ice cream soda. Anyone who is looking to celebrate an American holiday that isn’t the 4th of July might want to try this one out. After all, few things are as American as the ice cream soda.

The History of Ice Cream Soda

Unfortunately, we were unable to uncover the history of National Ice Cream Day—although we did give it our best try. However, we did discover the history of the ice cream soda, and let us tell you, it’s one of the most interesting food origin stories we’ve heard. That’s why we’re going to share it right now.

The ice cream soda was first invented in 1874 by Robert McCay Green, an operator of a soda fountain in Philadelphia. He wanted to create something new and different that would attract the attention of customers who had been buying his competitor’s soda fountain drinks. He decided that he would use a combination of vanilla ice cream with soda water and one of sixteen different flavored syrups. The result was the ice cream soda—a drink so delicious it not only allowed him to pilfer customers from his competitor but also remained in the American food lexicon for almost 150 years.

How to Make an Old Fashioned Ice Cream Soda

All of this talk about National Ice Cream Soda Day and ice cream sodas had us wanting to make the perfect ice cream soda. And for us, the perfect one is one that’s as close to the original ice cream soda as possible. So we wrote the following ice cream soda recipe so that everyone can enjoy something similar to the original ice cream soda.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 cup of whole milk
• 3/4 cup of chocolate syrup
• 4 cups of cold, carbonated water
• 8 scoops of vanilla ice cream
• Whipped cream
• Cold ice cream soda glasses—4 in total

Directions:

• Put 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup into each glass.
• Add 1/4 cup of whole milk to each glass.
• Add 1 cup of carbonated water to each glass.
• Stir the concoction until foamy.
• Add two scoops of vanilla ice cream to each glass.
• Top with whipped cream, if desired.
• Serve while cold.

Observing National Ice Cream Soda Day

The best thing that you can do on this holiday is to grab an ice cream soda and enjoy it alone, or preferably, with a friend. You can also post a picture of your ice cream soda creation to social media using the hashtag #NationalIceCreamSodaDay and spread the word about this holiday.