dog food dip

- [voiceover] you probablyrecognize these ice cream pellets as the ice cream of the future. they're dippin’ dots, a summertime staple. but this confectionery treat didn't start as, well, ice cream. it started as cow feed. dippin’ dots were invented in the 80s, not by an ice cream brandbut by a microbiologist. curtis jones specialized in cryogenics.

in 1987, he was workingfor a bio-tech company in kentucky, trying tofigure out how to make food for farm animals more efficient. his big breakthrough came whenhe flash-froze cattle feed at 350 degrees below zero,which produced small pellets. serendipitously, curtisloved making ice cream. next thing he knew, hewas using liquid nitrogen to freeze ice cream atextremely low temperatures and ended up with small beads of it.

when eaten, the natural heatof the mouth melted the beads and thus, dippin’ dots was born. a year later, he formed thecompany out of his parent's garage in illinois, butthere was a problem. curtis had nowhere to sell the product. dippin’ dots need to be storedat such a cold temperature that it made it impossiblefor grocery stores to house the tastytreat, so he got creative and marketed his productto alternate locations.

now, they're sold at amusementparks, festivals, zoos, and other summertime destinations. but whether or not theyreally are the ice cream of the future, we'll justhave to wait and see.