Maximizing the Flavor of Ice Cream

Updated: February 22, 2022

Leave it to Josh Friedland of The Food Section to give me a reason to stop and think about ice cream. On November 3, Friedland posed the following question:

"Does ice cream taste better licked from a cone or eaten with a spoon?"

Before continuing on with the rest of Friedland's article, I thought about my own ice-cream-eating habits. I definitely prefer eating ice cream piled on top of a cone than I do eating it from a bowl (or directly from the carton!) with a spoon. 

Eating ice cream on a cone makes me think of summer and conjures up memories of my family's first trip to Disney World. I can remember my parents buying me a cone with three scoops of ice cream. I had begged incessantly for three scoops and promised I'd be careful not to get any ice cream on my clothes, so my parents gave in. We sat on a curb along Main Street, and as soon as I gave my ice cream its first lick, the top two scoops fell off and landed with a splat on the hot pavement. Despite that traumatic experience (losing ice cream to the ground is traumatic for any kid), I still love ice cream on a cone the best. 

But I digress.

As I thought about Friedland's flavor question, it occurred to me that, when I did eat ice cream with a spoon, I had a peculiar way of doing it. Back in high school, someone told me that the best way to eat ice cream with a spoon was to turn the spoon over so it was upside-down. This way the ice cream hit your tongue and the spoon protected the roof of your mouth from the cold, thus preventing the possibility of "brain freeze." I've been eating it that way ever since. But was I cheating myself on the flavor of the ice cream by eating it that way?

According to Kay McMath, an expert in food technology at Massey University in New Zealand, "Flavor in ice cream is only released when the fat content - which carries the flavor - is warmed in the mouth to at least body temperature. During licking, the tongue is coated with a thin layer of ice cream which is more quickly warmed, and the flavor is detected by the large surface area of the taste buds present on the tongue." Using a spoon decreases the active surface area on the tongue, so you don't experience the full flavor of the ice cream. Aha! So, if you want to maximize the flavor of your ice cream, it is better if you lick it than if you use a spoon.

After reading the entire article, I'm still not sure whether my method of eating ice cream with a spoon (upside-down) helps bring out more of its flavor than the traditional method. It sounds like I'm just going to have to go out and buy a pint of coffee ice cream (my favorite!) and conduct a little flavor experiment of my own.

So, tell me, what's your favorite ice cream and how do you prefer to eat it?

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