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 Astronaut Ice CreamThe amazing tasty space treat. Freeze-dried ice cream, also known as astronaut ice cream or space ice cream is a brick (crumbles easily though) of dehydrated neopolitan ice cream that is always ready to eat, with no need for refrigeration. It was developed for the Apollo missions.Freeze drying (or lyophilization) removes the water from the ice cream by lowering the air pressure to a point where ice shifts from a solid to a gas. The ice cream is placed in a vacuum chamber and frozen until the water crystallizes. The air pressure is lowered, creating a partial vacuum, forcing air out of the chamber; next heat is applied, vaporizing the ice; finally a freezing coil traps the vaporized water. This process continues for hours, resulting in a freeze-dried, melt-in-your-mouth slice of ice cream. Freeze-dried foods were first developed so that foods could be sent on long-duration spaceflights, as to the Moon, and to reduce the weight of the water and oxygen normally found in food. 
Freeze-dried ice cream is a favorite at the Kennedy Space Center gift shop. It makes a great party treat or prize.
Ingredients: Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream slice contains: Milk fat, nonfat milk, corn syrup, strawberry puree (strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, water, modified potato starch, fd&c red No. 40), whey, cocoa (processed with alkali), stabilized and emulsified by mono and diglycerides, guar gum, cellulose gum and carageenan, artificial flavor, red No. 40, and vegetable annatto color. Price: $2.95 per 7oz. (volume) pkg. |
