Go inside Iowa State's Creamery to see how your favorite ice cream flavors are made. Video by Dave Olson
AMES, Iowa — Donning hair nets, lab coats and other personal protective equipment, a half dozen student employees and their supervisor enter the brightly lit pilot production plant inside the Food Sciences Building at Iowa State University.
The crew clusters around the soft serve ice cream machine, filling small paper cups and passing around spoons, unfazed by campus visitors peering through the windows. This isn’t a snack break. Each bite is contemplative as they check the flavor, texture and color. On this particular day, it’s a faint shade of purple.
A student drizzles a ribbon of honey onto the soft serve. Larger image. Photos by Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University.
“We’re making Lunar Lavender, which is one of our egg-less ice creams,” says Jennessa Sharratt, a recent graduate in dietetics and a summer employee at the Creamery.
Earlier in the week, she explains, they mixed and pasteurized 400 pounds of whole milk, cream, sugar, whey protein, nonfat dried milk and a natural binding agent. After adding lavender extract, they “aged” their mixture for 24 hours in a freezer.
“The packing, which we’re about to do, is my favorite part of the process,” says Sharratt with a smile.
The students toss their empty paper cups, sanitize their gloves and form an assembly line to layer soft serve ice cream and honey into 8 oz. containers. Once a cart is full, the production supervisor, Danielle Christofferson, pushes it into the blast freezer. Here, the soft serve will transform into hard pack ice cream over the next 24 hours before it's sold to customers across campus and online.
Student-focused mission
Business administrator Sarah Canova says the Creamery annually produces around 5,000 gallons of ice cream, along with 600 pounds of cheddar cheese and cheese curds. Most of it is sold in the Creamery’s retail store in the Food Sciences Building. But customers can also buy 8 oz. cups in SPARKS cafe in the Student Innovation Center and Gentle Doctor Cafe in Veterinary Medicine. The Creamery also launched an online store in May to provide direct-door service.
“Only around 20 universities in the U.S., the majority of which are land-grant universities, have an on-campus creamery,” says Canova. “We sell our products to gain back some money from the supplies and to pay the students, but the mission of the Creamery, first and foremost, is to educate students and give them hands-on experience.”
From left, ISU Creamery student employees Jennessa Sharratt, Hannah Even, Daniel Brumm and Drew Taylor package Lunar Lavender ice cream. Larger image.
Since the micro-creamery opened in August 2020, 49 undergraduates have worked in the pilot production plant, retail store or both.
“A lot of the students come from food science, animal science and dietetics. They learn about pasteurization, the freezing process and cheesemaking in their classes, but when they’re able to do that here at the Creamery, it really cements in. They can also learn how to manage finances, social media and inventory, and some students develop new products,” she adds.
Hannah Even, a junior majoring in culinary food science, says a love of baking and science early in life led her to Iowa State.
“I’ve always wanted to be a product developer chef and thought I wanted to do that in the baking industry. But after learning more about dairy science through my classes and getting to work here, that shifted. My dream job is to work with ice cream and make new flavors for Wells Enterprises,” says Even.
Experimenting with new flavors
Working in the Creamery over the last year has been “a good peek in the window,” she explains. Along with gaining hands-on experience in food safety and pasteurization, Even is developing several new seasonal ice creams. This includes a s’more flavor with fudge and graham cracker. She says the process is more complicated than adding toppings to a sundae.
“For example, we aren't using crushed up graham cracker, which could get soggy in the ice cream. We use a variegate, which is almost like a syrup that’s premade for ice cream,” explains Even.
Even and Canova say the s’more flavor is on track to be ready for the public by late summer. Like all of the Creamery’s 20-plus ice creams, custards and frozen desserts, it will be named to celebrate a person or place at Iowa State.
Even is also developing the Creamery’s first waffle cone. Since May, she has tested recipes for taste, crispness and shelf life while working to find the ideal size. Canova, who’s enjoyed being part of the quality control team, expects the waffle cone will be available to customers in the Creamery’s retail store this fall.
Not all of the students who work in the Creamery’s pilot plant or retail stores envision careers related to ice cream, says Canova. Some are simply interested in learning more about where their food comes from and how it’s made. She adds they're all tapping into a long tradition at Iowa State, starting with the first dairy lab on campus in 1880 and several iterations of a creamery. The latest version, reestablished by Canova and Stephanie Clark, a renowned dairy expert, professor and director of the Creamery, came after a 51-year hiatus.
"This unique opportunity that we’re able to offer our students again is part of what makes ISU an excellent agricultural institution and hub of innovation," says Canova.
ISU Creamery employee Emily Tapken scoops ice cream in the Creamery's retail store in the Food Sciences Building. Larger image.