Ice cream can't drown

Ice cream floats.

Formerly known as as an ice cream soda, this classic fountain treat is now most popular when
made with root beer.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

An ice cream soda is traditionally made with sparkling water (usually from a soda fountain), a syrup of your choice and a scoop or two of ice cream.

So technically soda is a dessert, and pop is a drink.

It is now most commonly made without the syrup and with pop instead of soda water, but it's the same idea.

The origin of the float can be traced back to Philadelphia's Robert Green, who supposedly used ice cream in his shop's Italian sodas when he ran out of cream, according to MakeIceCream.com.

What resulted was a drink that would bring young lovers together throughout the fifties, and gave people a reason to go to A & W (lets be honest, no one really likes their food).

On those slow, snowy days at Baskin Robbins we used to experiment with all kinds of sodas, using chocolate syrup and mint ice cream, or caramel sauce with pralines and cream. My personal favorite was always the classic root beer or occasionally Dr. Pepper.

When making one at home, make sure to scoop the ice cream first, and pour the soda in slowly because they foam uncontrollably. You can also substitute diet soda and yogurt if you're watching your waistline.

An elderly man used to come in to BR an order a chocolate soda with chocolate ice cream every Tuesday, saying we were the only place that still made them right. He thought that was a shame because "they're the best way to have ice cream."

And by the toothless smile on his face as he sat by himself and ate it, you could tell he was right.