Why is a popsicle called a quiescently frozen confection?

Popsicles are also called "quiescently frozen confections" because of the way they're frozen. Learn more about how flavored ice treats are made -- and what distinguishes them from ice cream -- in this episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuffworks dot com, where
smart happens. I am Mars Brain with today's question, why
is a popsicle called a quiescently frozen confection? Popsicles have
been around for nearly a hundred years. Ever since a

(00:23):
cold night in nine five, when eleven year old Frank
Epperson left a cup of soda pop with a stirring
stick in it outside, popsicles have been a cool and
flavorful treat for young and old al While the trademark
Popsicle brand is the most popular, the industry sells more
than a billion of the variously flavored ice on his

(00:43):
Stick treats every year, and the vast majority of them
are quiescently frozen. This phrase actually refers to the fact
that flavored ice is simply put in a refrigerator and frozen.
The word quiescently means in a RESTful state. This distinction
is made because ice cream and most other frozen confections

(01:04):
are stirred or agitated in the process known as overrunning.
For example, overrunning is what causes the ice cream mixture
to expand as it slowly freezes, by creating little bubbles
of air in the mixture. It requires constant agitation until
the confection is ready Quiescently frozen mixtures are not stirred

(01:25):
or agitated at all after the mixture is prepared. If
you've ever tried to make flavored ice at home, you
may have noticed that the flavor does not distribute evenly.
Often you have an ice cube with a confection of
flavor at the bottom. In the case of flavored ice,
the water freezes at thirty two degrees fahrenheit or zero

(01:45):
degrees celsius, while most of the other ingredients have a
lower freezing temperature. Commercial vendors of flavored ice use stabilizing
ingredients that keep the syrup, flavoring, and other ingredients from
separating from the ice as it forms. Instead, these other
ingredients become a sort of semi frozen lubricant between the
ice crystals, giving popsicles their slushy consistency. Be sure to

(02:11):
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