Surely you are annoyed when you enjoy an ice cream and it melts much faster than you can eat it and maybe it is even more annoying when it starts dripping on your favorite t-shirt. Imagine it being hot…
The solution comes from them researchers of Universityy of Edinburgh and their colleagues at the University of Dundee who believe they have found a solution to this problem: scientific ice cream that will take much longer to melt, even in extremely hot environments.
To create ice cream that does not melt immediately scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee propose to add a single very special protein to the usual list of ingredients.
This magical protein is known as BslA (Biofilm surface level A) and is present in soybeans. Researchers say that if added to an ice cream, it will help bind air, fat and water.
In turn, this commitment will make ice cream have something like insulation from the warm outside environment, experts say. In other words, BslA protein-enriched ice cream will take longer to melt, so it will give us more time to eat before it starts to drip into our blouse.
As noted, BslA is naturally present in certain foods. Knowing how to build it in the laboratory with the help of bacteria, researchers think they will be able to produce such ice-creams in 3-5 years.
In addition to the fact that the ice cream will be more resistant to heat, the procase of BslA will also make it very creamy, again through the binding of air, fat and water and consequently the formation of ice crystals.
This means that the ice cream of the future could have a perfectly satisfactory stability regardless of the outside temperature while at the same time containing lower levels of fat and therefore fewer calories.
