The ice cream sandwich — is one of life’s small joys during the heat of summer. But for one Australian woman, an experience with a mysteriously non-melting ice cream sandwich has left her scratching her head about the curious chemical content of the dessert.
While most of us are accustomed to speed-eating ice cream during warm weather before it dissolves into a sweet soup, Mary Salter and her grandson had the opposite experience: the ice cream sandwich she purchased from Australian supermarket brand Coles has not melted, even after being left outside in temperatures of nearly 80 degrees for over four days.
In a Facebook post to the Coles page, Salter expressed her incredulity.
“Can you PLEASE tell me just what is in your Coles ice cream sandwiches?” she asked the brand. She explained that her grandson tossed one half of a sandwich onto the ground outside over the weekend, but even four days later, it’s been untouched by any animals, insects, or even the warm weather elements. “There the two pieces sit — now I am a little concerned just WHAT is in this ‘treat,’” she continued.
This is not the first case in which consumers have noticed ice cream behaving oddly; in 2014, Walmart customers had a similar ice cream sandwich experience. A Coles spokesperson explained the phenomenon to Australian news as pretty regular, however. “Our ice cream sandwiches make use of very simple, commonly-used food techniques that help slow the melting process, and allows you to consume it without it falling apart in your hands,” they said. “This technique includes adding thickener to the cream, creating a honeycomb-like structure which helps to slow the melting process. When the product starts to melt and liquid evaporates, you are left with what appears as foam.”