July is National Ice Cream Month. According to the International Dairy Food Association, 90% of the U.S. population enjoys ice cream each year, with the average American eating 48 pints of ice cream per person, per year (more than any other country). There are many new tempting frozen treats with which to cool off this summer.

Fruttare Fruit and Milk Bars, made with real fruit and creamy milk, are available in strawberry and milk, coconut and milk, banana and milk, and peach and milk varieties; the juice bars in strawberry, mango, lime and orange flavors.

Magnum Gold and Magnum Mini bars feature vanilla bean ice cream swirled with sea salt caramel and dipped in a coating of Belgian milk chocolate. Breyers Blasts! flavors expands with seven new offerings including Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints and M&Ms. Popsicle continues its Yosicle line with Yosicle Swirlz!, creamy swirls of chocolate and vanilla, strawberry-red raspberry and strawberry-banana.

For those finding themselves in the vicinity of Utica, Ohio, a stop at Velvet Ice Cream’s Ye Olde Mill is highly recommended with its ice cream and milling museum, restaurant, playground, picnic area and catch-and-release fish pond. Named by Frommer’s as one of America’s 10 Best Ice Cream Factory Tours, Ye Olde Mill, welcomes visitors for tours, tastings and events May 1 – Oct. 31. Taste ice cream right as it comes off the line, Monday – Friday, 12 – 3 p.m. throughout July.

Another new product to enjoy this summer in refreshing cooling teas and smoothies as well as in a variety of sweet and savory dishes is Nectresse. Made from monk fruit, it’s much more concentrated in sweetness than sugar, with ¼ teaspoon equaling 1 teaspoon of sugar. Many recipes found on the website at www.nectresse.com.

The Animal Farm Buttermilk Cookbook (Andrews McMeel Publishing) introduces readers to the folklore, uses and beneficial qualities of buttermilk. Here is the history of buttermilk, with its basics of baking and cooking, plus homestyle recipes like maple buttermilk sandwich bread, fresh berry buttermilk cake, and salmon cakes with buttermilk tartar sauce. Give the strawberry-peach buttermilk soup and the mint-lemon buttermilk ice pops a try.

Peanut Butter Comfort features over 100 recipes for breakfasts, brownies, cakes, cookies, candies, and frozen treats featuring America’s favorite spread. Recipes are simple, quick and easy, from Vegan peanut butter chocolate mousse to spicy peanut butter and jelly sweet potato fries. On a hot summer day, indulge with a Nutella and Peanut Butter frozen fudge pop.

Recipes:

Mint-Lemon Buttermilk Ice Pops

Nutella and Peanut Butter Frozen Fudge Pops

Strawberry-Peach Buttermilk Soup

Ann Hattes has over 25 years experience writing about both travel and food for publications both in the US and internationally. A senior living in Wisconsin, she’s a member of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association and the Midwest Travel Writers Association.

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