WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Could an Ice Cream Not Melt?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. I'm more in vogel Bomb and today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>is a classic from our archives. I was thinking about

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<v Speaker 1>this one after we had a particularly warm weekend here

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<v Speaker 1>in Atlanta. A team of researchers and chefs in Japan

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<v Speaker 1>developed an ice cream that doesn't melt. Here's how it works,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here admit it. Even

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<v Speaker 1>the most open minded among us have preconceived notions about

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<v Speaker 1>ice cream by virtue of the fact that it's basically

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<v Speaker 1>flavored sweetened milk that's frozen. Certain properties are necessarily associated

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<v Speaker 1>with it. For instance, it melts when you're eating it

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<v Speaker 1>on a hot day. It's also very difficult to light

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<v Speaker 1>on fire. But the days of such predictable, old fashioned

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<v Speaker 1>frozen treats are over. A team of Japanese scientists has

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<v Speaker 1>developed a soft serve ice cream that won't turn to

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<v Speaker 1>milk soup, even after hours in the heat. And it's

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<v Speaker 1>not because it contains the usual thickening suspects like diglycerides,

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<v Speaker 1>kara gene in or polyscorbit eighty. It's basically just regular

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<v Speaker 1>ice cream with one small modification. The story of how

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<v Speaker 1>we got to flammable ice cream is pretty good. It

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<v Speaker 1>starts with a strawberry accident. After the earthquake and tsunami

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<v Speaker 1>ravage Japan. It's the one that caused the meltdown of

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<v Speaker 1>the reactors at the Hookushima Nuclear Power Plant. A Japanese

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<v Speaker 1>chef was tasked with figuring out what to do with

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<v Speaker 1>strawberry polyphenol, a compound extracted from strawberries. It all started

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<v Speaker 1>when nobody was buying a whole bunch of deformed strawberries

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<v Speaker 1>grown in an area affected by the earthquake because they

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<v Speaker 1>just weren't shaped quite right. Researchers at Japan's Biotherapy Development

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<v Speaker 1>Research Center wondered if instead of wasting all that fruit,

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<v Speaker 1>something could be done with the polyphenol inside of it.

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<v Speaker 1>They asked a pastry chef to create a dessert with it.

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<v Speaker 1>The experiment went okay, but the problem was every time

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<v Speaker 1>he added the compound to cream, it hardened right up.

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<v Speaker 1>Baha lightbulb invent to, a professor emeritus of pharmacy at

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<v Speaker 1>Kanazawa University, told Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun. Polypheno liquid

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<v Speaker 1>has properties to make it difficult for water and oil

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<v Speaker 1>to separate so that a popsicle containing it will be

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<v Speaker 1>able to retain the original shape of the cream for

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<v Speaker 1>a longer time than usual and be hard to melt.

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<v Speaker 1>With this realization, Odah and his research team developed Kanazawa

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<v Speaker 1>Ice popsicles, which hits stores in Japan last summer. They

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<v Speaker 1>hold their shape through all sorts of treatment that traditional

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<v Speaker 1>popsicles can't withstand, from hot sun to hair dryers. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>Kanazawa Ice offers soft serve ice cream, which can reportedly

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<v Speaker 1>be caught on fire without melting, and can keep its

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<v Speaker 1>shape at temperatures of a hundred and four degrees fahrenheit,

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<v Speaker 1>which is forty degrees celsius. I want to get your

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<v Speaker 1>paws on some flammable ice cream, Well, you're just going

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<v Speaker 1>to have to travel to Japan if you're not already there.

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<v Speaker 1>Japan has no plans to export it just yet. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by Jesslin Shields and produced by Tristan

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<v Speaker 1>McNeil and Eiler Klaang. For more on this lots of

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<v Speaker 1>other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radio. Or more podcasts my heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio visit the i heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.