Ever wish you could turn rock-hard ice cream from the freezer into soft-serve ice cream without having to wait for it to melt? Well, now you can, thanks to this bizarre-looking utensil from Japan.
Is it a fork? Is it a spoon? Is it a mixer whisking attachment? Well, it’s a little bit of all of those things. This is the アイホイスプーン (Aihoi Spoon), a special tool designed by a soft-serve ice cream lover for the sole purpose of turning hard tub ice cream into velvety-smooth soft-serve as quickly as possible. And while it may look like just a modified fork, after reading the inventor’s description, you’ll be surprised how much thought went into making the Aihoi Spoon.
Why would anyone bother stirring ice cream when you can start eating it right out of the freezer, or simply let it melt if you like it softer. Well, according to the Aihoi Spoon crowdfunding page on Japanese platform Makuake, stirring it with the right tool completely changes the texture of the ice cream, from a hard lump to a creamy delight. The creator of this tool apparently loves soft-serve ice cream so much that he decided to create a simple tool that anyone could use to obtain smooth soft-serve in just a few minutes.
The main difference between freezer ice cream and soft-serve is the temperature. The first is around -18 degrees Celsius, while soft serve is only -7 degrees. That difference in temperature makes a huge difference in texture, but simply leaving the ice cream tub out to melt won’t help. It will start to melt from the sides, and the core will remain hard. But stirring it, you get an even consistency.
That’s where the Aihoi Spoon comes in. Sure, you can use a normal spoon, but you’ll be left with lumps. Those fork-like holes of the Aihoi will solve the problem, and the straight bottom of the tool will ensure that you can scrape the bottom of the cup for the last bit of delicious ice cream.
While most modern ice cream spoons are made of aluminum, the Aihoi Spoon is made of stainless steel, because the latter has lower thermal conductivity, so you won’t accidentally melt the ice cream too much with the heat from your hands.
The 26-year-old inventor of the Aihoi Spoon wrote that he fell in love with the soft-serve ice cream served in Hokkaido, and wanted to share it with his parents, but soft-serve ice cream machines are expensive, bulky and cumbersome to work with, so he decided to make a cheaper solution.
For optimal results, the creator of the Aihoi Spoon recommends that you first put the ice cream in the microwave at 200W for about 60 seconds, before stirring it with his ingenious utensil. Or you can just wait for the ice cream to soften a bit naturally if you’re not in a hurry.
The Aihoi Spoon was originally pitched on Makuake a couple of months ago and has since met its funding goal, raising over 2.5 million yen ($20,000). The first units are expected to reach backers in September, at a price of 1,400 yen ($10.70) per spoon.
