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Aug 24, 2009 06:25 PM | 10
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The freezer aisle may not be the only place to find your favorite flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in the future. In fact, Turtle Soup, Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl and Cake Batter could someday be found on shelves right next to canned soup, peanut butter and cake mix.
The giant multinational company Unilever—owner of Ben & Jerry's, among other ice cream–makers—has been on the hunt for carbon-friendly improvements to its production of the summertime favorite. “We have to look at a really radical solution,” Gavin Neath, Unilever’s senior vice president for sustainability, told the Times of London.
One of the proposed possibilities: ambient ice cream. Now, in addition to upgrading the energy-efficiency of two million chilled cabinets they supply to retailers, the company has taken on the task of perfecting an ice cream that consumers can buy at room temperature, thereby eliminating the energy costs associated with refrigerated transport and storage. Although consumers would bear the costs of freezing the treat, the overall energy used would be reduced. The project is being carried out in Unilever's own laboratories, with help from the Cambridge University, according to the Times.
Matching the "microstructure" of the new ice cream to the prefrozen variety will be the greatest challenge. As Chris Clarke notes in his book, The Science of Ice Cream, "the microstructure of ice crystals, air bubbles, fat droplets and matrix is central to the physical and hence sensory properties of ice cream." And these components can change with warming and cooling.
Unilever is not the first to look into the chemistry of ice cream. Freeze-dried, or "space," ice cream has been around for decades. And the Cold Stone Creamery chain is now offering a new "dripless" ice cream, according to New York Magazine. "Ice cream is like Play-Doh for scientists," the magazine reported last month, "it practically begs to be manipulated."
Picture by Shoshanah via Flickr
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10 Comments
Add CommentOne is forced to wonder: is there actually consumer demand for shelf-stable ice cream? Anyone who's tried the shelf-stable A&W Root Beer Float knows how well that one worked out, and I don't recall anyone complaining that it was too hard to make a root beer float.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile I appreciate the attempt to reduce the amount of refrigeration needed in grocery stores to be more energy efficient and "carbon-friendly," given that we will be needing to refrigerate/freeze countless foods other than ice cream for the foreseeable future, wouldn't it make more sense to improve refrigeration technology rather than making something guaranteed to be inferior to the original product?
When I read the headline, I more imagined a warm ice cream. Something with an ice cream-esque texture and mouth feel that would be served at room temperature. Would be very interesting, and if successful could be sold alongside it's frozen counterpart for extra profit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis does not bode well for the Ben & Jerry's brand. For a product that prides itself on using natural ingredients and promoting environmental conservation, creating this Room-Temperature ice cream sounds like it would likely use chemicals in the process. Perhaps the process can be done without additives and wasteful manufacturing processes, but I doubt it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, Unilever is well known for replacing milk with oils and such in it's "frozen deserts". Who knows what they might do to poor Ben & Jerry's. Reminds me to check the ingredients list the next time I buy any. Frozen or not.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBeing as I'm too fat I wanted an ice cream that was healthy, low calorie. What I did is take 1 part, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/3 part brownie mix, 1/2ounce of chocolate chips and same of your favorite nuts.
This can be eaten slightly warm or refrigerated. Tastes like Rocky Road cold.
And 1 part water. Heat for 1 minute in microwave , add nuts, chips and cool, rrefrigerate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOr if wanted slightly warm, add the chips on top just before eating.. This I cool by putting it's container in a bowl of water.
We have this in England: it's called clotted cream - half way between double cream and butter (heart specialists love it as it generates so much work for them).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFold in some fruit and you have room temperature 'ice' cream.
We have this in England: it's called clotted cream - half way between double cream and butter (heart specialists love it as it generates so much work for them).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFold in some fruit and you have room temperature 'ice' cream.
room temp ice cream = pudding
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeculiar concept, I will be interested to see if it takes off. Doesn't sound very appetizing to me though!
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