DailyDirt: I Scream, You Scream… At These Ice Creams?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Who doesn’t like ice cream on a hot day? Kids and adults alike enjoy ice cream, and ice cream products have gotten some technological improvements over the years through food science. Ice creams that don’t melt as fast. Ice creams that have fewer calories but still taste rich and creamy. Check out a few of these ice cream novelties before summer is over.
- Researchers have identified a protein called BsIA that can make a slower-melting ice cream. This is a naturally-occurring protein that’s already in the food chain, so it will avoid regulation (and might even be “organic”). Still, the resulting ice cream might be a bit disconcerting. [url]
- Walmart’s Great Value brand ice cream sandwiches received some attention for not melting when left out in the summer heat. Walmart says no one should be concerned, and that melting rates for ice cream vary with certain ingredients, such as cream content. Food scientists point out that stabilizers such as guar gum can greatly affect how ice cream melts, and different brands were tested by Consumer Reports to show how different ice cream sandwiches melted. [url]
- An ice cream called Xamaleon changes colors when you lick it. This isn’t Willy Wonka magic, but eating food coloring that changes when it touches your tongue doesn’t seem normal (yet). [url]
- How about some glow-in-the-dark ice cream made from protein normally associated with jellyfish? There’s also a glow-in-the-dark sorbet version made without jellyfish proteins… for the vegans who don’t want to miss out. [url]
After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.
Filed Under: bsia, desserts, food, glow-in-the-dark, gmo, ice cream, protein, sorbet, vegan, xamaleon
Companies: consumer reports, walmart
Comments on “DailyDirt: I Scream, You Scream… At These Ice Creams?”
Who Wants to eat this stuff? Gross.
Researchers have identified a protein called BsIA that can make a slower-melting ice cream.
That’s nothing, Alton Towers uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream that they claim doesn’t melt in the sun. 🙂
There’s also a glow-in-the-dark sorbet version made without jellyfish proteins… for the vegans and those who can’t eat dairy who don’t want to miss out.
CTFY, Michael. ;p
Look at the photos at the top of the color-changing ice cream article and tell me that the person who composed those photos wasn’t either completely clueless or a practical joker. A half-round scoop of pink ice cream, slightly overhanging the cone on one side that turns bright red when you lick it? Yeah, that won’t remind people of anything else.
Or maybe I just have a dirty mind…
Real vs Fake Fluffy Stuff
What started upsetting me about ‘Food Science’ ice cream was the infestation of propylene glycol. I don’t eat industrial chemicals, especially that one.
Then I figured out that the fluffy stuff in the containers was being sold by volume, not by mass. That means the fluffy stuff is composed largely of air. The more air you can inject into the fluffy stuff, the more profit you can make per container.
Then I realized the consistency and density are all wrong. The flavors are largely fake and no where near as delicious as actual ice cream. The fluffy stuff is industrial food science ‘product’. All I want is actual ice cream. That is the only ‘ice cream’ I will buy and eat. I’ll enjoy the calories, versus not enjoying the fake mock-up of ‘ice cream’.
Sadly, identifying actual ice cream can still be difficult, despite a simple ‘natural’ ingredients list on the package. There is still the injected air factor and the quality of ingredients. Then there is the quality of dairy products, with or without growth hormone and antibiotics, etc.
Taking all of this into account, it’s amazing what utter and udder crap has infiltrated the grocery stores.
Re: Real vs Fake Fluffy Stuff
At its ‘realest’ ice cream is churned ‘creme anglaise’ (egg custard -egg yolks, sugar and cream + flavour). The churning process introduces air, and stops large ice crystals forming. So even made at home with the best ingredients ice cream has some air in it.
Re: Real vs Fake Fluffy Stuff
How do you define industrial? I suspect of all the chemicals used in industry, water is the most common. And what of things like flour (typically milled in an industrial environment)?
Re: Real vs Fake Fluffy Stuff
“the infestation of propylene glycol. I don’t eat industrial chemicals”
Why fixate on that? PG has been around and used in products consumed by humans for a long time. It’s risks and toxicity are well established (very low, lower than many common “nonindustrial” food additives.)
If you’re worried about food additives, PG should be toward the bottom of your list.
Ice Cream SHOULD melt.
Crap added to prevent that is ONLY for the benefit (profit) of the producer, and always degrades the flavor and mouth feel of the “ice cream” for me, the consumer. This is also true of the various gums many ice cream makers put in their crappy ice creams. I won’t eat those either because they leave a disgusting residue in the mouth.
Leave well enough alone. Just make good ice cream the right way without additives and adulterants and take pains not to let it melt before it is eaten. We don’t need more fake shit to eat. More bad news about misplaced efforts in science and technology.