Angela Salinas / The Collegian
The Collegian Pick a flavor, any flavor.
If your favorite treat is ice cream, then chances are the student employees and staff at the Fresno State Dairy Processing Unit are whipping up the flavor you’ve been craving.
There are several locations where you can purchase the ice cream, including on-campus and the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market.
Ice cream lovers of all ages can’t go wrong with more than 65 different flavors. Seasonal favorites like Pumpkin, Eggnog and Peppermint Stick Candy make any holiday stand out. Other ice cream flavors range from Rocky Road and Vanilla to Raspberry Romance and Chocolate Chocolate Chip.
“We make premium ice cream,” said 22-year-old student employee Ariana Hallum. “It just has a really nice creamy flavor to it.”
Student employees receive a hands-on experience as they work at the Dairy Processing Unit during the semester and the summer. Student employees were working usually from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during the summer to keep customers stocked with ice cream during the Central Valley heat.
Every step in the process is important. Measurements must be exact or the flavor won’t turn out according to the recipe.
“Every flavor has a different weight of ice cream mix that goes into it,” said Hallum. “Then we pour that into our ice cream maker and we will add any ingredients necessary like nuts, fruit, cookies and chocolate syrup.”
After the student employees pour in the remaining ingredients, they turn on the freezer for about 10 to 15 minutes. The ice cream is a soft serve consistency at this point.
Angela Salinas / The Collegian
“Once the ice cream is frozen, we will package it to whatever container size,” said Hallum.
Student employees put the ice cream in the side freezer, which is usually less than zero degrees.
Hallum said the final step is moving the ice cream to a freezer at 25 below zero for at least 24 hours before selling.
The Dairy Processing Unit specializes in more than just ice cream. Student employees also make milk, cheese, butter and flavored spreads.
Dairy science major Megan Sandlin, 23, has been working at the Dairy Processing Unit for two and a half years. Sandlin thinks Fresno State ice cream is one of top sellers because they add a lot of extra ingredients into the ice cream mix. Her favorite part of the process is being able to taste the final product.
Sandlin recommends that people should try Mint Cookie Crush because they stir in a generous amount of Oreo cookies into the batch.
Dairy Processing Instructional Technician Daniel Avila said ice cream samples are available every second Tuesday of each month at the Farm Market.
Avila said Vanilla is his favorite flavor because “you can always add what you want to it.” The flavor can be changed just by adding one or more toppings
“We’ve expanded quite a bit in ice cream,” said Avila. “Before we only sold on-campus at the Farm Market,” said Avila. “Now we also sell our ice cream all the way up in Auberry.”