Dippin' Dots Are The Result Of A Science Experiment Gone Right
Whether it was a trip to the zoo or a simple walk along the lakefront in Chicago, one colorful vendor cart always sent me to my mom pleading for money for a little treat. The tiny ice cream pearls from the Dippin' Dots cart are a novelty you can't ignore on a hot summer day. But, did you know these tasty beads came from a love of science and not just dessert?
That's right, Dippin' Dots were an intricate science experiment at the start, perfected by a microbiologist and Illinois native named Curt Jones. Jones was a cryogenics expert who was explaining his job (flash-freezing animal food) to his family in 1987 when he had the idea to freeze tiny beads of ice cream using liquid nitrogen. As with any scientific endeavor, trial and error played a major role in the creation of Dippin' Dots. However, after experimentation, Jones was able to perfect the process to create little beads of cryogenically frozen, yet still creamy, ice cream.
How Dippin' Dots were invented
Transforming something like ice cream, which has been around for centuries and has soft, even consistency, into tiny edible marbles took scientific experiments and calculations to make happen. The key to Dippin' Dots' creation was temperature and timing.
The ice cream base had to be submerged in liquid nitrogen to create the beads, but the mixture had to be dripped into the chamber of liquid nitrogen in a specific way to achieve the desired shape. The entire process had to be done at a certain rate so the beads of ice cream wouldn't clump together. Regular ice cream can take hours to fully freeze while the process for Dippin' Dots is practically instantaneous.
Maintaining the individual "dot" shape was another challenge when it came to the delivery of the product. Jones had to use a special freezer to transport his creation at temperatures lower than most ice cream freezers. However, Jones managed to figure out the right combination of temperature and timing fairly quickly. In 1989, Opryland U.S.A. in Nashville became the first amusement park to offer Dippin' Dots.
How Dippin' Dots gained worldwide fame
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what made Dippin' Dots take off in the '90s. There's no denying how well the colorful beads matched the pre-teen aesthetic of the time. Equally undeniable is that Dippin' Dots offered a new way to experience ice cream that felt somewhat futuristic in the '90s.
There's nothing wrong with a classic scoop on a cone, but these little pearls melted in a new way on the tongue and the flavor combinations essentially matched that of traditional ice cream. In 1995, Dippin' Dots innovative spirit led it across borders when it debuted in Japan. The brand also ventured outside of ice cream offerings by launching Dippin' Dots cereal in 2018.
From theme parks to stadiums and festivals, Dippin' Dots has expanded to more than 22,000 selling locations in the U.S. alone. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Dippin' Dots were a unique treat people all over the world would love to try. But thankfully, a microbiologist had the creativity and cryogenic knowledge to make it happen.