From first-place Brown Butter Miso Caramel to the People’s Choice award winner Pineapple Upside-Down Cheesecake, the four original flavors created by groups of food science majors at last year’s ice cream competition are now on sale at Herrell’s Ice Cream and Bakery stores in downtown Northampton and the Mill District in Amherst.
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Also now being reproduced on premises by the Herrell’s team are the student creations Tea Time, which came in second place, and Appel Kruimel Ijsje (apple crumble ice cream), which took home third place in last year’s competition.
“All of these flavors are absolutely delicious,” says Judy Herrell, president and CEO of Herrell’s, who has been mentoring students in the popular food science product development lab class for the past few years. “They are imaginative and creative—all winners.”
Brown Butter Miso Caramel features made-from-scratch caramel and brown bits of cooked butter and hand-cut chunks of dark chocolate. The crowd favorite, Pineapple Upside-Down Cheesecake, has a dark cherry swirl and enough cream cheese mixed in to be reminiscent of its namesake.
Tea Time is a chai tea ice cream with a hint of rose water, salt and a mix of Biscoff cookie butter and Lotus Biscoff cookie crumble. Appel Kruimel Ijsje, inspired by the Dutch treat called Stroopwafels, has a deep apple and cinnamon flavor.
The capstone project helps prepare seniors entering the field by giving them an opportunity to apply food science principles – from food processing, chemistry and microbiology to marketing analysis, shelf stability, food safety and nutrition – and learn how to scale up a product in the industry.
The judges rate the ice cream on texture, overrun (amount of air in the ice cream), sustainability, smell and taste, and ease of replication.
