For every #foodie who has spent this #summer with sticky hands and wasted chocolate thinking, “It’s 2015. Is is too much to ask for #icecream that doesn’t melt?” - http://clapway.com/2015/09/01/ice-cream-that-doesnt-melt123/

If you spent this summer with sticky hands and wasted chocolate thinking, “It’s 2015. Is is too much to ask for ice cream that doesn’t melt?” then fear not. Scientists have got your back. A team from the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh in Scotland just came up with a new recipe that can slow melting time waaaay down, and, with it, your ice cream enjoyment experience.

Ice Cream That Doesn’t Melt?

The secret ingredient is a protein that occurs naturally in natto, or fermented soy beans. It can work to bind together the air, water, and fat in that Rocky Road double scoop, thereby minimizing drippage even on a hot day.

Scientists have apparently also devised a new way to manufacture the protein in order to get it into the ice cream. In addition to the slower melting time, this could mean less saturated fat and fewer calories in every pint–I mean, cone–you stop to enjoy. It might also make it easier for ice cream manufacturers to use organic or responsibly sourced materials, and it would take less energy to produce, store, and transport the stuff.

Sound too good to be true? If you can wait three to five years, the product could be available in your neighborhood supermarket.

Why Ice Cream?

If you’re wondering why researchers weren’t focused on this very important project until just recently, it’s because they were busy developing the protein, called BslA, for its benefits as a “bacterial raincoat.” It sticks to fat droplets and air bubbles in a way that helps to stabilize mixtures, and it has proved useful in the lab for biologists and physicists especially in working with bacterial colonies.

Fortunately for all of us, Cait MacPhee from the University of Edinburgh realized that the protein’s physical properties could be used as a waterproofing agent in a variety of products, not just bacterial colonies. Thus, slow-melt ice cream.

Here’s to you, Cait MacPhee. And here’s to you, Scotland. Here we thought ice cream couldn’t get any better.

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If ice cream is your addiction, then the Pavlok might help you quit it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7HxIEggMGY

We Can Finally Enjoy Ice Cream That Doesn"t Melt