Japanese scientists create ice cream that doesn't melt

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A team of Japanese scientists has developed a way to make and sell a type of ice cream that does not melt, capitalizing on a discovery made accidentally by a chef. Most ice cream starts melting just moments after it is scooped from a container and placed into a bowl or on a cone. Because of this, people have taken to eating it quickly. But now that may change, as a team in Japan has found a way to maintain the shape of ice cream no matter how slowly it is eaten.

The ice cream reportedly came about by mistake after a chef in Japan was asked to find a way to use strawberries grown in areas impacted by the earthquake and tsunami back in 2011—they wouldn't grow in a normal shape, so customers wouldn't buy them. The chef tried to use the strawberries in other ways, and at one point, complained that they caused cream to solidify. Hearing of the complaint, a team at Kanazawa University took a closer look and discovered that a compound called polyphenol in the strawberries was responsible for solidifying the cream. The extract, they found, makes it difficult for water and oil to separate, which is what occurs in regular ice cream. They tried mixing it with ice cream and found it would prevent the ice cream from melting.