Ice cream is primarily made from cream and sugar. In its production, machines churn this sweet mixture inside a cooled drum. As the liquid freezes against the drum’s surface, a scraper removes the thin frozen layer to prevent large ice crystals from forming. Without this step, ice cream can develop a gritty texture — something many people notice after it’s been stored at home for a while.
This texture issue often arises when ice cream slightly thaws during transport or storage and then refreezes. When this happens, larger, unpleasant ice crystals can form, leading to that chunky consistency.
To combat this, manufacturers already use stabilizers like carrageenan (sourced from seaweed) and guar gum (from guar beans) to maintain ice cream’s smoothness during shipping and storage, where it’s exposed to fluctuating temperatures above freezing.
But not all solutions are welcome. Some attempts to slow melting create ice cream that doesn’t soften into a creamy treat but instead becomes stiff and rubbery — far from what most people want in a dessert.
Food scientist Cameron Wicks, then a student at the University of Wisconsin and now at General Mills, was intrigued by a viral video of Kanazawa Ice — an ice cream that reportedly doesn’t melt. Curious about the science behind it, she began exploring the potential role of polyphenols, a group of compounds better known for their antioxidant benefits than their structural properties.
Wicks experimented with different concentrations of tannic acid, a type of polyphenol, mixing it into cream at 0.75%, 1.5%, and 3%. She noticed the mixtures with higher levels thickened quickly. After refrigerating them for a day, she found the 3% blend had gelled so firmly it could be sliced or flipped upside down without spilling — behaving more like pudding than ice cream.
When viewed under a microscope, the higher tannic acid samples showed distinct fat globules. Wicks and her team theorized that the polyphenol was bonding with proteins in the cream, forming a structure that prevented fat particles from clumping together — effectively stabilizing the mixture and slowing melt.
This effect doesn’t defy the laws of thermodynamics — it doesn’t keep the dessert cold — but it does alter the texture. Over time, ice cream made with this method behaves more like a firm custard, holding its shape but sacrificing some of the creamy melt people expect.
So while polyphenols might eventually join the list of stabilizers used to help ice cream survive transport and temperature changes, there’s still a question of appeal. After all, few people crave a scoop that behaves like a sponge. Expectations matter — biting into what looks like vanilla ice cream only to find something unyielding or savory is an unpleasant surprise.
Whether this science leads to ice cream that can resist heat from a blow dryer or simply arrives intact after a long delivery route remains to be seen. For now, it’s a fascinating development in the world of frozen desserts — but the perfect balance of stability and softness is still being churned out.
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