Ice cream has come a long way since its conception from mountain snow flavored with juices to its present variety of soft served delights to hard ice cream stuffed into paper cartons. And, don’t forget the gelato and Italian ice! That being said, what types of changes do you think the future holds for ice cream? Maybe ice cream will look like this…
Wikipearls – Wikipedia and wikibooks are trendy now, so why not make a wiki-ice cream? Well, that’s exactly what a Harvard professor has done. They’re called wikipearls, and although they look like your typical doughnut holes, they’re actually encapsulated ice cream treats. So far, there are only a few flavors: coconut encrusted mango ice cream, chocolate guarded by a hazelnut shell, and vanilla with a peanut butter covering. The idea behind the treat is to eliminate the need for plastic packaging. Just grab a wikipearl and snack away; your ice cream is safely hidden inside.
Flavor–Releasing Ice Cream – Yes, just like Willy Wonka’s gum, this ice cream, which is still being perfected by a graduate student, uses micro-encapsulating technology to change from one flavor to another. The only problem right now is that the micro technology is sensitive to both temperature and pressure. While this ice cream may not be available to consumers for some time, we cheer the inventor on in hopes that this flavor-changing ice cream will hit coolers everywhere soon.
Expanding Your Palette– Could ice cream take a turn from sweet to, well, not sweet? While flavors like avocado, cheese and crackers, and vegetable may sound disguising to you now, they might be the raging trends of the future. There are many countries that embrace non-sweet flavored ice cream, so what’s stopping Americans from loving it, too?