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Comment by Mikeb85 | Hacker News Reader

You can prevent melting with a bunch of stabilisers but it's not a better product. Part of the fun of ice cream is the fact it melts.

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> Part of the fun of ice cream is the fact it melts.

Are there other foods that you think would be improved by adding a melting feature?

In other words, if ice cream didn't melt as you held it would you improve it by adding melting?

Because "part of the fun" to me sounds like a knee-jerk justification rather than a real evaluation of whether it's a good thing.

Texture and unevenness is part of many dishes. And many dishes have a liquid component, or different textures and layers.

And there are frozen, custard-y desserts which don't melt. Yet ice cream is #1.

You don't like licking the liquid as it melts off and starts dropping down the side? Or putting your lips on the top and sucking the dessert as it melts?

I don't think that you can say that melting is objectively better, but I think it's an intrinsic property of the food.

Not really, no.

Hm. Well, to each their own. That's one of the aspects of eating ice cream that I enjoy, and I'd miss it eating a product that didn't melt the same way. Kind of like eating barbecue ribs without getting your fingers all covered in sauce; along with the taste, the experience is part of why I eat the food.

I tend to avoid ribs, as good as they taste, because it's a pain to get my fingers all covered in sauce. To each their own I guess.

> You don't like licking the liquid as it melts off and starts dropping down the side? Or putting your lips on the top and sucking the dessert as it melts?

It's definitely a subjective preference.

I dislike everything about the fact that ice cream melts rapidly under most conditions. To me it's inconvenient and destroys the original structure of the thing I want to consume, forcing me to accelerate the speed at which I consume it (or end up with a milk drink). I think I'd ideally reduce the melting speed by between 1/2 and 3/4.

Interesting question, strangely enough I kind of wish waffles melted when I give thought to it!

> Are there other foods that you think would be improved by adding a melting feature?

Butter and chocolate are solid at room temperature; likewise ice cream is served frozen. Part of what makes all of them so pleasant to eat is that they melt rapidly in the mouth, pleasantly coating the tongue.

Many foods become "not quite right" when butter is replaced with another fat, and lack of melt-in-the-mouth is one of the reasons.

I'm talking about melting on your plate or as you hold its container, like ice cream.

Yup. It ain't ice cream if it doesn't melt. It's something else.

I don't think you live in a tropical country where it is usual to have 40ºC in summer:-). I'd really enjoy 10 minutes more enjoying my ice cream.

Yup, melting is part of fun of having an ice cream

The ice cream, with strawberry polyphenol added to it, does melt eventually. It just takes prolongs its structure longer than ice cream without it. I also like the fact that the ingredient used is natural and not some man made chemical.

Asbestos is also natural, but you wouldn't want it in your ice cream.

Guar gum is also natural. It's extracted from guar beans. And it's widely used (and overused) in lots of US ice cream brands.

You know that plutonium is naturally occurring too, right?

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/natures-nucl...

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