The Clever Hack To Keep Your Ice Cream Cool When It's Out Of The Fridge
Keeping ice cream the right temperature for the best texture can be a little tricky. But there's one unusual item — likely already somewhere in your house — that can make all the difference. Hint: It often comes with packages. While it might seem unlikely, bubble wrap can actually do a great job of keeping ice cream cold when it is sitting out at room temperature. According to Den Garden, bubble wrap can reduce heat loss by 20% to 50%, which means it can do a great job insulating cold ice cream.
If you're wondering how this can really be true, it all comes down to the structure of the wrapping material which absorbs more than shock or minor bumps along the road during shipping. Per the science site Temperature Master, bubble wrap works so well as an insulator because of its signature "closely-spaced air pockets." It's those little air pockets that can help maintain the temperature — hot or cold — of whatever has been wrapped up inside of the material.
When to use this cold ice cream trick
While The Kitchn suggests using the bubble wrap insulation trick for transporting ice cream, there are definitely other instances when you might want to deploy this surprising temperature hack as well. If you think of all the times your ice cream sits out on the counter and melts, those are perfect opportunities to use bubble wrap to prevent a slush of ice cream from going back into the freezer.
Consider using this trick when you pull ice cream out to serve alongside desserts like birthday cake, cobbler, or pie that are being served to the whole family and will take a little while to dish up. Those who throw parties or ice cream sundae gatherings that allow people to serve themselves can also majorly benefit from using bubble wrap to keep gallons of ice cream cold, too.
So before you toss those packaging materials the next time you get something in the mail, remember you can likely repurpose the bubble wrap to help keep your ice cream cool when it's out of the fridge. It's definitely a good thing to have on hand.