Americans will celebrate National Ice Cream Day on 21 July. This early, ice cream vendors are offering promos like new flavors and discounts. Some scoop shops will give away servings in cups for charity.
The occasion will also recall interesting products like the Nestle Drumstick. A TikTok video of the ice cream cone recently went viral. TikToker OliverBubs09’s April video showing a cone left overnight on a table without melting amassed 21 million views.
Drumsticks aren’t made with ice cream, but rather a “frozen dairy dessert,” which differs in ingredients, explained US food industry site, Agro and Food Processing, foodandwine.com reported.
“Most simply put, ice cream is made of milk solids or fats, whereas frozen desserts use vegetable oil or Vanaspati,” according to the website.
Ingredients like guar gum that thickens, stabilizes and adds texture to food also helps prevent ice cream from easily melting, according to Consumer Reports.
Cameron Wicks, a Ph.D student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Food Science, is working on new technology that adds naturally occurring compounds to ice cream to prevent it from melting for a few hours, the school’s website reports.
“We learned that adding polyphenols to ice cream can create a product that holds its shape for over four hours at room temperature. That’s pretty close to a no-melt ice cream,” said Wicks, according to wisc.edu.
Polyphenols are compounds that are naturally found in foods like green tea, blueberries and cranberries, and are known for their health benefits, the report said.
Wicks found that as she added more polyphenol extracts to ice cream, its viscosity increased, meaning it became thicker.
After the findings, Wicks will research what acceptable amount of polyphenols may be used for ice cream without affecting its flavor.