Let Cones Be Licked

Chief judge for the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards and sensory scientist at Massey University Kay McMath has proved the dessert tastes better when licked from a cone. McMath said that the flavour in food is released when warmed inside the mouth. Licking an ice cream means the tongue is coated with a thin layer so it is more quickly warmed and the flavour is detected by the taste buds. Eating ice cream with a spoon tends to keep the ice cream colder for longer and delivers the sweet blob to the roof of the mouth before swallowing. The theory has surfaced because of Tip Top’s Labour Day ‘1-dollar Scoop Day’, when 600 dairies across the country offered cone ice creams at 1-dollar per scoop.