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I think we can all agree on this one thing about ice cream: It melts when it's warm outside. Heck, it melts in a slightly chilly room. So when Christie Watson discovered her son's ice cream sandwich hadn't melted (much) after sitting in 80-degree weather for 12 hours, she was naturally suspicious. After checking the box of Walmart Great Value bars to verify that they are made with real ice cream, she tried a little experiment. She left another bar out overnight. Sure enough, that one didn't melt, either. "I thought to myself: What am I feeding to my children?" Watson said.
What's the deal with these ice cream bars?
News station WCPO-TV compared the Walmart ice cream sandwich melting rate with that of a Klondike bar and a cup of Haagen-Dazs for half an hour. Again, the Walmart bar remained mostly solid. The Klondike melted a bit, and the Haagen-Dazs turned into a puddle. Granted, the chocolate cookie sandwiches should protect the ice cream from melting somewhat. But it's still odd.
Could it be the ingredients? A Walmart spokesperson says, "Ice cream melts based on how much butterfat and cream are in it. Ours contain less and are more affordable. But they are healthy and meet FDA guidelines." It's probably a stretch to call the sandwiches "healthy," but it's true that a dessert high in butterfat and cream will melt faster.
A look at the Walmart bars' ingredients list shows that the ice cream filling contains cream and buttermilk, but also corn syrup and additives like guar gum and carrageenan, which are less-expensive ways to make ice cream feel "creamy" without using all cream and milk. These may also explain why the ice cream melts so slowly.
I think this is a case of wanting too much from your frozen dessert: Delicious, not-too-messy, lower in fat, and cheap. You can't have it all unless you make it yourself from scratch. And you get what you pay for. This is also a good argument for reading that ingredients list.
More from The Stir: 8 Yummy Ice Cream Sandwich Recipes to Try Before Summer Ends
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Would a slowly melting ice cream sandwich make you worry, or do you think it's no big deal?
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