"melting" news and stories

Chocolate bars designed to stand up to hot climates are nothing new. There's actually a Wikipedia page about the U.S. Military's attempts to create heat resistant sweets. However, Nigerian food scientists have apparently made some progress in creating non-melting chocolate, according to a recent LiveScience article. Cornstarch is apparently what keeps this new blend from melting. This new chocolate is also supposed to be a lot more pleasing to the palate than other earlier attempts, some of which tasted "little better than a boiled potato."

One of the other recent attempts at heat-resistant chocolate was the Desert Bar that was distributed to U.S. troops during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. From what I've read, these bars were never released commercially, but I swear I remember Hershey selling some sort of non-melting chocolate bar in the 80s or 90s. Anybody else?

[Via Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country]

I love popsicles, although I do tend to keep away from the overly sugary day-glo variety I preferred on hot days when I was 6. Times and tastes change, but one thing about popsicles does not: they drip. Skilled popsicle eaters will navigate their way around and catch all drips before they fall, but usually kids aren't so resourceful and end up with sticky hands. Parents might want to take note that sticky fingers can be avoided with DripCatchers, which are thin cellulose sponges that catch drips before they can leave the popsicle. The expand as they get dripped on, so they'll never miss a drop. They all have different designs on them (and can be custom done, too), so they're fun enough to appeal to kids and not just to parents who want less-sticky children. They're $6.95 for 24.

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