It may not have been so necessary this summer but scientists have found a way to stop ice cream melting so quickly.
Researchers at Edinburgh and Dundee universities have used a protein from bacteria to make a firmer, smoother, longer-lasting version.
They say the finding could consign to history childhood memories of sticky hands from dissolving wafers.
Ice cream made with the ingredient could be on sale within five years.
Professor Cait MacPhee, an experimental biomolecular physicist at the University of Edinburgh, said: “We’re excited by the potential this new ingredient has for improving ice cream, both for consumers and for manufacturers.”
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Dr Nicola Stanley-Wall, a molecular microbiologist, of the University of Dundee, added: “It has been fun working on the applied use of a protein that was initially identified due to its practical purpose in bacteria.”