You may have heard about that chocolate Hershey developed for soldiers to enjoy in the desert…without the chocolate becoming a gloppy mess. And of course, the cheez that doesn’t get hard.
Foods-that-behave-badly often fill a need. You know, if you don’t have time to melt cheese for example.
And foods-that-behave-badly sometimes end up delighting people. That’s just one “accidental discovery” legend of ye olde chocolate chip cookie — the story that Ruth Graves Wakefield thought the chocolate she chopped up would melt, but instead it retained its shape.
But there is nothing grosser foods that have other-worldly behaviors: like the shelf life of maraschino cherries and Twinkies. Or ice cream not melting.
That latter case hit the top news today, thanks to the disgust of a parent whose kid left the ice cream sandwich out in the sun. Turns out the gum ingredients the product developers chose to help the ice cream keep its shape while melting are FDA-compliant.
Turning Ice Cream Into Lemonade
While inappropriate non-melting-ice cream “is not OK!”, repositioning it as a new category of “ice fluff sandwiches” could be an opportunity. I loved “ice milk sandwiches” growing up and knew the center would be thinner and more icey than ice cream sandwiches. We like when marshmallows keep their shape. Just like ice cream that doesn’t melt.
It’s all in consumer expectations. Luckily today’s cocktail drinkers can rest assured there are natural (yet equally Day Glo) maraschino cherries to be had. I haven’t tried burying them to check the half life but I have a feeling it will be more in line with cherries that fall from the tree. Please report back to me.
Exhibit A: Shapely ice cream sandwiches (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)
Exhibit B: Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches melt (Susie Wyshak)
