What is "mellorine"

Mellorine is a lower-cost imitation of ice cream, using fats other than butterfat. It can be made from both animal fat and vegetable fat.

Mellorine is produced by freezing, while stirring, a pasteurized mix of milk-derived nonfat solids and animal or vegetable fat (or both). Afterward, it is battered by a carbohydrate sweetener and the addition of flavouring ingredients.

Mellorine was a product of necessity after World War II. In the United States, produced wartime goods made of cotton, cotton meal, and cotton seed oil were suddenly no longer being used in quantity by the military. Cottonseed oil found peacetime use in salad dressings, mayonnaise, and in the ice-cream substitute mellorine.