Science of Ice Cream

Are some ice creams “meltier” than others? This is a question that Maya Warren, an ice cream expert and Ph.D. candidate in food science, explores at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Despite the simple sweetness of a scoop of ice cream, this frozen dairy product has a complicated microstructure. And this complex combination of air cells, ice crystals, and fat globules—to name a few constituents—affects the way in which different kinds of ice cream melt and collapse.