WEBVTT - An Ice Cream that Doesn't Melt

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Bogelbaum here admit it. Even the most open minded

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<v Speaker 1>among us have preconceived notions about ice cream by virtue

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<v Speaker 1>of the fact that it's basically flavored sweetened milk that's frozen.

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<v Speaker 1>Certain properties are necessarily associated with it. For instance, it

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<v Speaker 1>melts when you're eating it on a hot day. It's

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<v Speaker 1>also very difficult to light on fire. But the days

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<v Speaker 1>of such predictable, old fashioned frozen treats are over. A

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<v Speaker 1>team of Japanese scientists has developed a soft serve ice

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<v Speaker 1>cream that won't turn to milk soup even after hours

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<v Speaker 1>in the heat. And it's not because it contains the

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<v Speaker 1>usual thickening suspects like diglycerides, kara gene in or polysorbate eighty.

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<v Speaker 1>It's basically just regular ice cream with one small modification.

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<v Speaker 1>The story of how we got to flammable ice cream

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<v Speaker 1>is pretty good. It starts with a strawberry accident. After

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<v Speaker 1>the earthquake and tsunami ravage Japan. It's the one that

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<v Speaker 1>caused the meltdown of the reactors at the Hookushima Nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>Power Plant. A Japanese chef was tasked with figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>what to do with strawberry polyphenol, a compound extracted from strawberries.

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<v Speaker 1>It all started when nobody was buying a whole bunch

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<v Speaker 1>of deformed strawberries grown in an area affected by the

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<v Speaker 1>earthquake because they just weren't shaped quite right. Researchers at

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<v Speaker 1>Japan's Biotherapy Development Research Center wondered if instead of wasting

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<v Speaker 1>all that fruit, something could be done with the polyphenol

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<v Speaker 1>inside of it. They asked a pastry chef to create

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<v Speaker 1>a dessert with it. The experiment went okay, but the

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<v Speaker 1>problem was every time he added the compound to cream,

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<v Speaker 1>it hardened right up. Baha lightbulb inventor Tolmi, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>emeritus of pharmacy at Kanazawa University, told Japanese newspaper The

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<v Speaker 1>Asaki Shimbun polyphenol liquid has properties to make it difficult

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<v Speaker 1>for water and oil to separate, so that a popsicle

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<v Speaker 1>containing it will be able to retain the original shape

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<v Speaker 1>of the cream for a longer time than usual and

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<v Speaker 1>be hard to melt. With this realization, Odah and his

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<v Speaker 1>research team developed Kanazawa Ice popsicles, which hit stores in

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<v Speaker 1>Japan last summer. They hold their shape through all sorts

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<v Speaker 1>of treatment that traditional popsicles can't withstand, from hot sun

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<v Speaker 1>to hair dryers. Now, Kanazawa Ice offers soft serve ice cream,

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<v Speaker 1>which can reportedly be caught on fire without melting and

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<v Speaker 1>can keep its shape at temperatures of a hundred four

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<v Speaker 1>degrees fahrenheit, which is forty degrees celsius. I want to

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

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<v Speaker 1>just gonna have to travel to Japan if you're not

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<v Speaker 1>already there. Japan has no plans to export it just yet.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tristan McNeil. For more on this and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>cool topics, visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot

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<v Speaker 1>com