The Historical past of Astronaut Ice Cream

There could also be no novelty candy extra polarizing than astronaut ice cream. Those that adore it reward its gentle, crunchy texture, and a taste that’s nonetheless unmistakably creamy and candy. Its detractors will say biting into it’s akin to chomping down on a chunk of chalk: powdery and unnatural. And for individuals who have by no means tried it, your entire idea of consuming ice cream stripped of all liquid could seem downright weird. However though so-called astronaut (or to be extra exact, freeze-dried) ice cream is not the preferred of novelty treats, its longevity proves that it has discovered a small, however fiercely loyal fan base.

Even its creator has been a bit shocked on the product’s endurance.

From One-Off Fad to Present Store Greatest-Vendor

Astronaut ice cream’s story begins within the late Nineteen Seventies with Ron Smith, the founding father of American Outside Merchandise, an organization that specialised in meals for backpackers. In the future, Smith received a message from the corporate he contracted to make a few of their freeze-dried meals (a class fashionable with hikers for its shelf stability). “They mentioned, ‘Goddard Air and Area Museum contacted us and mentioned that freeze-dried ice cream was utilized by the area program. They wish to know if we are able to make it, to allow them to promote it of their present store.’ And we mentioned, ‘Certain, we’ll strive it,’” remembers Smith. The preliminary product was a far cry from the neatly packaged bars you’ll see at present: “It was half a gallon of Neapolitan ice cream that you’d purchase within the retailer,” he says. “It was frozen stable, after which reduce with a bandsaw, in the event you can imagine it.” Then, the ice cream was freeze-dried utilizing a specialised machine, which turned the ice immediately into gasoline. That course of—which, in the event you recall from highschool physics, is known as sublimation—is what’s liable for the tiny air pockets in freeze-dried cream; it’s the place the ice crystals had been within the unique, frozen product. Lastly, about three-quarters of an oz was loaded right into a pouch. “Fairly frankly, once we first began doing this, we thought, ‘Nicely, this can be a fad. It’s going to final a few years.’ And that was what, 44 years in the past?” Smith says.

The product additionally in all probability received a lift from the distinctive financial situations of the time: “An extended recession made small luxuries rather more engaging. Ice cream is an effective instance of a small luxurious—you completely don’t want it bodily, however emotionally it might make you fairly pleased for little or no further expense,” says meals historian Megan Elias, the director of the Boston College gastronomy program. And, with its lengthy shelf life, it may very well be stashed within the pantry till the craving hit.

Immediately, the division of American Outside Merchandise that markets freeze-dried ice lotions and fruits (and Astrodog canine treats!) to shoppers is called Astronaut Meals. The unique Neapolitan taste remains to be going sturdy in ice cream sandwich kind, together with vanilla and banana cut up. When you’ve by no means tasted it, the feel’s closest analogue might be honeycomb sweet: gentle with numerous air bubbles. The flavour, nevertheless, is pure ice cream, for the reason that substances are the identical as what’s in a daily scoop. Astronaut Meals stays a well-liked product in lots of museums across the nation, in addition to theme parks like Walt Disney World. “I inform individuals, ‘Look, yearly there’s about three million new children in the US. So, there’s three million new clients. My guess is [the company] will go on lengthy after I am gone,” Smith says.

A Humble Deal with Goes Upscale

Astronaut Meals could have been the primary to market freeze-dried ice cream and different snacks on to shoppers, however they now not have the class cornered. To wit: on Etsy, there are practically 800 listings for freeze-dried meals, together with Skittles, camel milk powder, and, in fact, ice cream. And maybe it was solely a matter of time earlier than somebody in Brooklyn created a design-forward and more healthy different to conventional freeze-dried ice cream. Cosmik is the invention of Robert Collingnon, who give up his job in promoting in 2016 to make an artisanal model of one in every of his favourite snacks. After his Kickstarter marketing campaign blew previous its goal of $9,500 to hit over $70,000, he realized he wasn’t the one non-hiker secretly dipping into EMS to seize freeze-dried treats. “It confirmed me that there have been numerous like-minded of us who would admire a higher-end, cleaner-ingredient, freeze-dried ice cream,” he says. His merchandise, which characteristic zero synthetic substances, can be found in traditional flavors like cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, and strawberry. There’s one taste, nevertheless, that he leaves to his predecessors. “I’m by no means going to make the Neapolitan,” he says. “It’s good! I’ll allow them to deal with that. It’s what I grew up on.”

Whereas each corporations’s merchandise are usually bought at locations like museums and area facilities, they noticed an uptick in gross sales from their web sites in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of everything, in the event you’re stocking up on shelf-stable meals for a pandemic, you possibly can’t do significantly better than a product that was hardy sufficient to fly into area (though, to be clear, it is not eaten in area).

Nostalgic Enchantment

Novelty treats like astronaut ice cream could also be related to childhood, however it’s adults who’ve given them their enduring reputation. And one thing particularly magical occurs when an ice-cream obsessed child grows up and creates probably the most well-known sweet retailers within the nation. “I bear in mind getting astronaut ice cream at a visit to a theme park throughout camp,” says Dylan Lauren, of famed Dylan’s Sweet Bar. “I believed it was so neat that I may eat a candy that is additionally loved in outer area. A lot in order that I savored every chunk and saved half in my bunk to indicate my dad and mom after camp as an alternative of consuming the entire thing directly.” Immediately, Lauren’s shops have a nostalgia part, which all the time shares freeze-dried ice cream. “I see from the response on clients’ faces that it’s a spotlight for adults to reminisce about and for teenagers to see as a result of it is so cool,” she says.

Nicely, perhaps not actually cool, however you get the purpose.

August 2020