Japanese scientists have come up with a cool solution to stop ice cream from melting before you’ve had time to finish it.

The ice cream retains its original shape in 28°C weather and remains cool.

A strawberry extract stops the oil and water from separating so quickly which means the sweet treat stays frozen even if you blow a hair dryer at them.

Scientists at Japan’s Biotherapy Development Research Center in Kanazawa used a polyphenol* strawberry extract to develop melt-resistant ice cream.

“Polyphenol liquid has properties to make it difficult for water and oil to separate,” said Tomihisa Ota, a professor at Kanazawa University.

“So an ice cream containing it will be able to retain its original shape for a longer time than usual, and be harder to melt.”

The company created the non-melting ice cream by accident.

A pastry chef wanted to create a new kind of confectionery* in order to use strawberries that were not the right shape to be sold. The initiative was part of efforts by the company to help strawberry farmers affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The chef realized that cream would solidify when put in contact with the strawberry extract. Although this made the extract redundant in confectioneries, scientists realized it could be used to stop ice cream from melting.(SD-Agencies)