“ Jelly ice ” inspired by the tofu never melts

The jelly ice cream is cold but never melts. Jelly Ice is nervous and reusable. Jelly Ice is real and scientists want to bring it to a store near you.

In a presentation for ACS FALL 2025Researchers from the University of California (UC), Davis, presented “Jelly Ice”, a gelatin hydrogel that freezes and Déget without making an aqueous disorder. Everything about Jelly Ice looks like something directly from the imagination of a child: edible, reusable, composable and Squishhy.

But the frost ice cream is definitely real, made using advanced techniques in materials science. Initially developed for food preservation, Jelly Ice could have a wide range of applications between expedition, biotechnology and, wherever there is a need for this alternative form of ice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxofdlpriwg

The inspiration for Jelly Ice started in a grocery store. The researchers were concerned with the hygiene of the showcases of seafood, where cast iron water opposes the ice stored inside to keep food cool. During the brainstorming solutions, they were inspired by the frozen tofu, which stores water while being frozen but frees it completely when it is thawed.

Back in the laboratory, and after considerable tests and errors, the team made a gelatin structure that was kept in the water regardless of the phase change. The recipe took several years to perfection statement. Below the water freezing point, the jelly ice cream turns into a stronger condition that looks like ordinary ice.

“Compared to ordinary ice in the same shape and the same size, jelly ice cream has up to 80% of cooling efficiency – the quantity of heat that the frost can absorb by changing phase,” Jiahan Zou, a postdoctoral student in UC Davis, in the press release. “And we can reuse the material and maintain heat absorbance through several freezing cycles, it is therefore an advantage compared to ordinary ice.”

That said, there are “a few more steps in market analysis, product design and large -scale production tests” before Jelly Ice appears in a store near you, said Zou. In any case, jelly ice cream opens the door to exploring other vegetable proteins – such as soybeans – to create durable materials.

“In my research, I realized how powerful mother is in the design of biopolymers and the vast possibilities they offer,” she added. “I believe that there will be incredible products derivatives of biopolymers, because the materials themselves teach us to work with them.”