Like an invisible forcefield only seen in science-fiction movies, this newly developed ice cream is impervious to the hot, ultraviolet rays of the sun.
No more ice cream melting onto your hands and dripping all over your clothes and shoes. It may sound clean and convenient, but non-melting ice cream could cause health issues.
You may recall a news story last year out of Cincinnati, where a local woman was astonished by the unmelting nature of her son’s Walmart Great Value ice cream sandwich. Her son left the ice-cream sandwich in the sun for 12 hours and it remained melt-free.
How is this even possible? Research conducted at the Department of Food Science and Technology at Ohio State University found “fat aggregates,” which stabilize the ice cream, are responsible for non-melting commercial ice cream.
Scientists from the U.K. also took the Cincinnati news story to heart and began digging into what makes a “brain-freezing” event such as this even possible. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and University of Dundee, U.K., found that BslA, a naturally occurring protein, is a viable solution in the development of non-melting ice cream.
BslA binds air bubbles, water and fat droplets together, stabilizing them more efficiently in ice cream, allowing researchers to replace more fat molecules with the protein. However, like everything developed in a laboratory, there are always unknown health risks involved. BslA is a naturally occurring protein in your body and it is probably better to keep it that way. When you start adding too much of what your body produces, it throws the delicate balance out of sync and disease or illness is usually the cause.
The amazing non-melting ice cream in the Cincinnati news story was from Walmart. In an interview with Newsday, a Walmart spokesperson made mention of the ice cream’s non-melting power, attributing it to the high amounts of cream it contained. There was no mention of gum, corn syrup and those tricky artificial flavors, which no one knows the contents of.
However, Dr. Sean O’Keefe, a professor specializing in food chemistry at Virginia Tech, noted in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that ice cream with more cream will actually melt faster. The more cream, which is one of the only natural ingredients in Walmart’s non-melting ice cream, the faster the ice cream melts.
In the interest of your health, it is best practice to steer clear of anything that should melt but doesn’t, after say 30 minutes. Lab manufactured foods are not natural, plain and simple. Ice cream in general is pretty unhealthy, unless you get creative, ditch the sugars and sweeteners, and make it at home.
No more test-tube ice cream and playing “guess the additives” while you stand on your lawn waiting to see how long your Walmart ice-cream sandwich takes to melt!
One delicious, all-natural way to make ice cream is to use blended frozen bananas. You may be waiting for the rest of the ingredients, but yes, only frozen bananas, unless you want to add a few pecans for crunch.
Maybe even super-antioxidant berries if you like those midday bowls of banana ice cream. Frozen bananas can be coupled with coconut milk and coconut fat with a few extracts, like peppermint extract, to add a new flavor from time to time.
-Stephen Seifert
Stephen Seifert is a writer, professor, adventurer and a health & fitness guru. His flare for travel and outdoor adventure allows him to enjoy culture and traditions different than his own. A healthy diet, routine fitness and constant mental development is the cornerstone to Stephen’s life.
Sources:
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/24707/OARDC%20poster.pdf
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/news/2015/slower-melting-ice-cream-in-pipeline-thanks-to-new-ingredient.php
http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/walmart-s-great-value-ice-cream-sandwiches-don-t-melt-in-80-degree-weather-video-shows-1.8929140
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/science/2009/07/06/Why-does-ice-cream-melt/stories/200907060137
http://www.walmart.com/msharbor/ip/Great-Value-Vanilla-Flavored-Ice-Cream-Sandwiches-42-Oz/11047625
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-creamy-ice-cream-with-just-one-ingredient-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-93414
http://foodbabe.com/2013/06/09/how-to-make-coconut-milk-ice-cream
