Sticky, dripping, running ice cream may become a thing of the past.
Scientists from the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh say they've formulated a new recipe for ice cream that doesn't melt in warm temperatures -- or at least, lasts a lot longer before it begins to drip.
The key is a new ingredient: a naturally occurring protein, known as BsIA, that binds together the air, fat and water in ice cream to make it melt-resistant. The researchers discovered a way to produce this protein, which already occurs naturally in some foods, in friendly bacteria. The protein sticks to fat droplets and air bubbles to make them more stable in a recipe.
"We're excited by the potential this new ingredient has for improving ice cream, both for consumers and for manufacturers," Professor Cait MacPhee, an experimental biomolecular physicist at the University of Edinburgh, told The Telegrap.
The shift could be particularly beneficial to manufacturers, since it would allow ice cream to remain frozen for longer, reducing the need to deep freeze the sweet treat.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, along with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, is also behind the concept of a new, improved and non-melting ice cream.
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