Eli5: Why does melted ice cream turn solid when put into the freezer but unmelted ice cream remains at the “ice cream” consistency?

Question

Eli5: Why does melted ice cream turn solid when put into the freezer but unmelted ice cream remains at the “ice cream” consistency?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

It’s the size of the ice crystals in the mix. Small ice lends to a lot of the nice properties of ice cream – it flows, feels creamy, and melts gently. When it’s melted and refrozen, it freezes as a large block of ice. This loses all those good properties.