A general store in Harrow, in Victoria's south-west, has produced an ice cream thought to be almost 30 years old from the bottom of one of its freezers.
Ash Stanbridge, who took over the Kolmar House General Store about ten months ago, found the original Magnum Ego while clearing the freezer out earlier this week. The shop has more than 145 years of history behind it.
"At first I was a bit amazed and in a bit of disbelief," he said. "And, amazingly, it was still solid and intact; so frozen in time."
The product was vanilla ice cream under a thin layer of milk chocolate, then a layer of caramel, then an outer milk chocolate shell. "I remember the Ego just being that top-tier supreme one," Stanbridge said.
Magnum Ego was introduced in 1998 and discontinued earlier this year. Stanbridge dated his find to the late 1990s from the old logo and the old wrapper, and from remembering the product from childhood.
He said he had not been brave enough to eat it. Other finds from the same storeroom included sealed flavoured milk with no liquid left inside it, and crisp packets from the 1980s and 1990s. He is keeping many of the items and is in no rush to throw them away.
His social media post about the find went viral. One commenter recalled eating "two a day for a week when they came out"; another said they still look for them, and that they had "been gone for so long".
Stanbridge contacted the company, which is looking into the find. "Australians have been sharing stories, memories and tributes to Magnum Ego, reminding us just how special the product remains to so many people," it said, adding: "For now, all we can say is watch this space."
It is worth noting how the date was arrived at. There is no batch code in this account and no printed date. The ice cream's age was established from its livery: an old logo, an old wrapper, and a shape remembered from childhood.
This is dating by graphic design, and this newspaper regards it as the most reliable method available in a country general store. Caramel keeps no calendar. Branding does, because branding is the only part of a product that is replaced on a schedule.
The method generalises neatly across the rest of the storeroom. The crisp packets are from the 1980s and 1990s because they look like it. The flavoured milk is old because it is empty, which is a slower clock but a clock nonetheless.
The Department of Unnecessary Research has identified the one awkward consequence. Magnum Ego was discontinued earlier this year, so every surviving wrapper now belongs to the period before this year, and the stratum has closed.
Harrow accordingly holds a sealed layer, and the company has said to watch this space. Should the Ego return, the freezer will lose its only dating technique at a stroke.