lotte

Summer is here! Finally, we can eat gallons of ice cream without looking like weirdos again! We might be sweating and smellier than a gym sock in Tokyo, but at least we have ice cream and that makes it all worth it.

But how much do you really know about your ice cream? We recently discovered that Lotte, a producer of numerous delicious treats in Japan, has a FAQ purporting to answer all your burning (melting?) ice cream questions. See if yours is on the list below!

To be honest, we never really had any serious questions about ice cream beyond: “Where is it?” and “Can I put it all in my mouth now?” But it looks like Lotte has gotten plenty of them from others! So here are a few of the questions and answers that the company has on their website for all curious dairy-product lovers.

▼ “Curious” is one way to describe this…

https://twitter.com/soumaharuharu/status/608973350849814528

Why doesn’t ice cream have an expiration date on it?

This one surprised us mostly because we’ve never had ice cream in the freezer long enough to warrant checking for an expiration date. We’d much rather store it in our tummies. But Lotte has an answer nonetheless!

“Because ice cream doesn’t expire.”

What? Really?! Surprising as it may be, according to Lotte, as long as you keep your ice cream below -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 degrees Fahrenheit), you don’t have to worry about it going bad since bacteria and the like won’t grow and it won’t cause degradation in the quality of the ice cream. “It’s a very stable food, so there’s no expiry dates set,” they conclude.

However, it turns out that doesn’t necessarily mean you should hang onto your ice cream forever…

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For how long can I save ice cream?

You’re probably thinking the answer here would basically be “until the heat death of the universe,” but the answer Lotte actually provides an entirely different.

“You should eat it as soon as you can.”

Now, wait just one second! Are they saying that just so they can move more units? Well, that might be part of the reason, but they do also have some practical reasons too. For example, they say that if you open the door a lot, it can cause frequent heat fluctuations which may result in the surface of your ice cream melting and then refreezing, causing it to get crunchy. Obviously, that would negatively impact the quality of your ice cream eating experience.

That feeds into our next question…

▼ I want it inside me. NOW.

Can I eat my ice cream if it has melted and then been refrozen?

The answer to this one is fairly simple (and probably a bit obvious).

“It won’t hut you, but it won’t be very tasty either, so we don’t recommend it.”

Lotte provides a bit more explanation, saying that once it’s melted and been refrozen the ice cream will change color, develop larger crystals, and get crunchy. Basically, you can eat it if you want, but you might not enjoy the experience.

Here’s one more question we thought was pretty cool.

What are the important points to storing ice cream at home?

This question is fairly broad, but Lotte delivers a number of good points to keep in mind! Pay attention to the following for maximum ice cream deliciousness!

“Store it at -18 degrees Celsius or colder.”
“To keep cold air from escaping, open and close the freezer door quickly and as rarely as possible.”
“Ice cream absorbs smells easily, so don’t store it with anything smelly.”
“Be careful not to let the surface of the ice cream melt.”
“When storing partially eaten ice cream, smooth the surface and seal it well.”
“Don’t try to refreeze melted ice cream as it won’t return to its previous state.”

So, were all your ice cream questions answered? Or do you still want to know more about the world’s greatest food? Be sure to tell us in the comments and share any ice cream tips you have!

Sources: Lotte
Image: Twitter (@fujimon117140)