Mars patents a plant-based ice cream that resists melting for two hours

What Happened

Mars, Incorporated has filed a patent for a vegan ice cream formulated with urad beans (black gram lentils), whose proteins and carbohydrates form stable structures that slow melting and improve texture and mouthfeel. The company says the formulation keeps its shape for up to two hours at room temperature, aimed primarily at improving cold-chain and retail-display stability rather than a specific product launch.

Why It Matters

Two hours of shape stability at room temperature targets the cold-chain and retail-display problem, not the eating experience — that's a distribution economics play as much as a formulation one, aimed at cutting spoilage/waste losses in transit and on shelf.

This is about surviving the supply chain, not a new flavor.

FET's Takeaway

Urad bean protein/carbohydrate structures doing the stabilizing work is worth watching closely from a dairy-and-ice-cream formulation angle — if a legume-derived structuring system can match dairy-fat melt behavior, that has implications well beyond vegan lines.