Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert, similar to ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the late 1930s in the United States.
Soft serve in an ice cream cone
A mixture of chocolate and vanilla soft serve being dispensed, a flavor colloquially referred to as swirl or twist
A 99 cone ice cream, served with its namesake flake
Image: 2019 05 03 22 07 55 Two large servings of chocolate soft serve ice cream from Carvel in Arlington County, Virginia
Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food colouring is sometimes added in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. It can also be made by whisking a flavoured cream base and liquid nitrogen together. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.
Vanilla ice cream served with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a wafer
Kulfi in a matka pot from India
Noblewomen eating ice cream in a French caricature, 1801
Title page to The Art of Cookery by Hannah Glasse