Grab your spoons and gear up for a possible brain freeze because July is National Ice Cream Month and Sunday is National Ice Cream Day.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan called for a month-long celebration of the cold treat because of its fun and nutritious value and because 90 percent of the nation’s population enjoys the creamy dessert according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

With hundreds of varieties from coffee and chocolate chip mint to rocky road and cookie dough, there’s surely a flavor for every taste bud.

Maggie Moo’s on Fairway Drive in Roseville is home to more than 50 flavors ranging from inventive to traditional. There’s Irish Cream, Very Yellow Marshmallow, Pina Cowlada, Espresso Bean and Cotton Candy. And don’t forget the mix-ins, cone flavors, low carbohydrate ice creams and sorbets.

Trupti Thakor, owner of Maggie Moo’s in Roseville said one their most unusual flavors is the butterscotch ice cream.

The treatery won best ice cream for their chocolate, dark chocolate, vanilla, vanilla bean and strawberry flavors by the National Ice Cream Retailers Association.

“We say we are the best,” said Vishal Thakor, an employee at Maggie Moo’s.

With the number of flavors, it’s hard to chose a favorite, but not impossible.

“Strawberry cheesecake, that’s my favorite,” Trupti said with a big grin.

It seems as though no one can eat ice cream without a smile. It brings many back to their childhood and for some it’s a guilty pleasure.

“People use it as a reward for a good job or to have a better day,” said Hilary Coury, store manager for Cold Stone Creamery on Douglas Boulevard in Roseville.

Cold Stone Creameries are unusual in that the stone counters stay at a constant minus five degrees for stirring in the mix-ins. All of the ice cream, about 20 flavors daily, are made in-store and include about 40 mix-ins, Coury said.

The most popular flavors are cake batter, sweet cream and chocolate. Two of the favorite mixes are the Birthday Cake Remix with cake batter ice cream, rainbow sprinkles, brownies and fudge and the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection with chocolate ice cream, peanut butter, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and fudge.

Coury admits to having her own guilty pleasure: Oatmeal raisin cookie batter ice cream with apple pie filling and cinnamon, which she says tastes like apple crisp.

In celebration of National Ice Cream Month and National Baseball Month, which was May, Cold Stone Creamery has come up with new flavors including cookie batter and blueberry muffin batter, which taste like the real thing.

Baskin-Robbins, although once home to only 31 ice cream flavors, has expanded to include almost 40 daily flavors.

Tyler Lummis, an employee at Baskin-Robbins on Sierra College Boulevard in Roseville, said probably the most asked for flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip.

But Baskin-Robbins customer Brittany Steiger, 7, said her favorite is the Gold Medal Ribbon with caramel marbled through chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

During the summer, Brittany, her mother Amber and brother Dylon, grab ice cream scoops a couple times a week and they all know what they like and don’t.

“I like that it has a yummy flavor and in the summer it’s kind of refreshing,” Brittany said.

But like everything, the good comes with the bad.

“It sometimes gives my tongue a freeze,” 6-year-old Dylon said.

A Dash of Panache on Vernon Street also sells brain freeze worthy ice creams all from Gunther’s Quality Ice Cream Company in Sacramento. The shop has 12 flavors daily including Mocha Almond Fudge, Birthday Cake (made with sugar cookies), Peaches n Cream, Oreo Cookie and Mint Oreo cookie (quite possibly the most popular request).

Saundra Romo, the supervisor at A Dash of Panache, said ice cream is something kids and adults both enjoy.

“It’s a great thing and it always remains a great thing,” she said.

No matter what flavor is a person’s favorite and whether they enjoy it in a cup or cone, most people agree that ice cream serves a purpose.

“It’s a good closure on the day. Plus it just tastes good,” Lummis said.

What are Americans’ top ice cream flavors (according to the International Dairy Foods Association)?

1. Vanilla

2. Chocolate

3. Butter pecan

4. Strawberry

5. Chocolate chip mint