Rich chocolate? Something adventurous like rocky road? Or does classic vanilla suit you just fine?
When it’s hot out, it doesn’t really matter the flavor – as long as it’s cold and sweet. Enjoying that cool scoop is a small indulgence that products within the WinSense Extra series make even cooler. No, that’s not some wacky new flavor of the week. WinSense Extra is a series of cooling systems produced by the folks at Lyondell’s Millennium Specialty Chemicals facility in Jacksonville, Fla., to provide an enhanced sensory experience, or rather, an intense and complete cooling of the entire mouth.
Lyondell’s flavors and fragrances business is a leading supplier of ingredients for confectionary, food and beverage products and oral, personal care and other consumer products. And while WinSense Extra certainly isn’t something you’ll find in the freezer of your local market, it is really cool, or rather…really cooling.
Of course, until the creamy treat hits your palette, another Lyondell product -- propylene glycol -- helps to keep it fresh. From our facilities in Bayport, Texas, Fos-sur-Mer, France, Botlek, Netherlands and Chiba, Japan, we supply pharmaceutical grade propylene glycol (PG/USP) to major flavor and fragrance companies worldwide. You won’t spot propylene glycol in your ice cream carton because it's actually the transparent lining of the carton, helping to preserve the ice cream’s freshness and prevent freezer burn.
Colorless and odorless, propylene glycol is a sticky liquid that, because of its versatility, is used in a variety of applications to preserve moisture. As the inner lining of the paper wrapping around ice cream cones at some of your favorite ice cream parlors, propylene glycol acts as an adhesion-reducing agent to keep the protective paper from sticking to the cone. As a flavor carrying agent, it’s also used in many ice cream "accessories," such as chocolate sprinkles and flavored syrups. It’s what plumps up the flavor of fat-free ice creams and enhances popsicles’ colors.
In addition, our high-flow, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resins are used in the injection molding process to make the plastic "safety seal" band surrounding the paperboard cover of the ice cream container, and in some instances, our polypropylene resins are used to produce the plastic container itself. They also are used for the bottles that house those yummy ice cream syrups, and our plants’ polypropylene helps mold the disposable plastic spoons ice cream lovers use to dive into the treat.
Lyondell products don’t just enhance and help protect ice cream treats. Our fuels and refined products – specially formulated for cleaner burning in the sizzling months – fill many of those inviting ice cream trucks that roam your neighborhood in the summer.
Indeed, quite a lot goes into your favorite frozen indulgence. So the next time someone offers you a scoop of ice cream, double up…compliments of the folks at Lyondell.