Upon examining one tonight, it doesn’t seem all that different from any other bag.
Is it? How?
MAYBE it’s made of ever-so-slightly denser paper. Does this really make a particular difference from putting ice cream in any old paper bag?
I always thought those bags were to absorb/contain any condensation that might accrue on the outside of the ice cream (or any other frozen food) while you were taking it home…
Never thought about it any deeper than that…
Similiarly, I thought it was to keep the sticky mess that’s on the outside of a lot of cartons from getting all over everything. Incidently, whenever I buy frozen, concentrated orange juice I always liberate some of the produce bags to stick them into.
I went over to my local grocery store and checked out the ice cream bags. They aren’t paper here, they’re plastic. I got from your OP that it was paper with you? Hmmmmm.
I believe that the old white paper bags merely reflected light and heat thus slowing the melt rate. The addition of a thermal “baffle” (the bag) also helps to reduce air convection across the surface of the ice cream container and slows the rate of warming.
Typical mature, cost effecient low tech solution.