Choosing to not interfere with the pure cocoa taste of chocolate ice cream, 10-year-old Mary Grace Morgan eats her Blue Bell ice cream plain, adding only chocolate syrup for flair.

“I like to have it in the summer because it is really, really cold, and tastes really good,” Mary Grace said. “I just love things that are cold in the summer.”

Shamar Crenshaw, 9, also prefers the simplicity and sugary flavor of vanilla ice cream. His favorite brand is Blue Bell.

“I like ice cream because it tastes sweet,” Shamar said.

A sweet treat to cool the palate, ice cream is one of the favored summer desserts for children and adults.

“It’s really widespread of people who buy ice cream,” said Lyveshia Franklin, assistant manager at Jack’s on Dallas Avenue.

Franklin orders at least two 3-gallon containers of Blue Bell ice cream each week to sell at the fast food location. Popular flavors are vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream and strawberry.

“On hot days, we sell them like crazy,” Franklin said. “We sell shakes more than anything, more than regular ice cream cones or ice cream in a cup.”

Washington Street Super Market carries about double the amount of ice cream during summer months, stocking more than 30 containers of Blue Bunny brand ice cream on the shelves.

“It sells better when there’s warm weather,” said Charlie Ammons, Washington Street Super Market owner. “People feel like they need something cool.”

Sonic Drive-In sells almost triple the amount of ice cream during the summer, according to Tama Wade, general manager.

“We get a lot of orders for just the cones, just plain,” said Tama Wade, general manager. “For our shakes, our big sellers are chocolate and vanilla. The most selling ice cream is blasts with Reese’s and M&M’s.”

Winn-Dixie, Wendy’s and McDonald’s were unavailable for comments.

For a fun summer project, ice cream can also be at home with simple ingredients.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s ice cream in a bag recipe is easy for children and adults of all ages to produce.

Ingredients are items traditional kept in the kitchen, such as plastic bags, milk, sugar and vanilla.

“The only thing that people would probably have to buy is the rock salt,” said Deborah Voltz, expanded food and nutrition agent assistant for the Extension office.

To make the ice cream, items are placed in the different bags and shaken.

“They can see the milk turning into ice cream by shaking it,” Voltz said.

After five minutes of shaking the bags, the mixture should be a thin ice cream. To harden it, Voltz suggests leaving it in the freezer for several hours.

“The taste is a little different,” Voltz said. “It is not as sweet as other homemade ice cream with the crank that you churn, but it’s an activity to show kids that they can prepare something for themselves. Just take your time, don’t rush it and have fun doing it.”

Recipe for ice cream in a bag:

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla (or preferred extract)

6 tablespoons rock salt

1 pint-size Ziploc Bag

1 gallon-size Ziploc bag

Ice cubes

Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt and seal. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully. Shake until the mixture turns into ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes. Wipe off the top of the small bag and open it carefully. Eat and enjoy.