Free ice cream Tuesday
By Morgan Steger
The Collegian
Not expecting a box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day? Head over to Fresno State’s Farm Market for a free scoop of Raspberry Romance, one of three Fresno State produced ice cream flavors featured in this month’s ice cream sampling, this Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Farm Market, located on the corner of Barstow and Chestnut Avenues, has been hosting the samplings, the second Tuesday of every month, since November 2005.
The ice cream tasting was an idea inspired by students working in the Fresno State Dairy Processing Unit, said Kristen Heath, a student employee and coordinator of the event.
By offering free samples of its product the Dairy Processing Unit hopes to attract more people to the Farm Market and introduce them to new flavors of Fresno State ice cream, as well as perennial favorites such chocolate and vanilla, said Heath.
This month’s new flavor, Raspberry Romance, is a vanilla ice cream with raspberry syrup swirls and dark chocolate raspberry cups, Heath said.
Along with new flavors, Heath said she tries to sample unique flavors that people may not know much about, such as Tahitian Vanilla, this month’s other sample.
Most people confuse Tahitian Vanilla with regular vanilla but they’re not one and the same, Heath said. “This actually has vanilla beans in it, to me it tastes a lot richer,” she said.
Every step of the ice cream’s production involves Fresno State students, Heath said. “From cow to little ice cream tub, it’s us.”
Students working at the Dairy Processing Unit make at least 180 gallons of ice cream a week, she said.
“Thirty percent of what we make goes to the Farm Market, the rest goes to ice cream parlors,” Heath said.
The Dairy Processing Unit regularly produces 50 flavors of ice cream and the Farm Market keeps about 40 flavors in stock, she said.
Fresno State ice cream is one of the best selling products at the Farm Market, said Karen Bridgeford, a student employee.
Bridgeford said she had noticed an increase in the sales of new ice cream flavors as a result of sampling days because customers are more likely to purchase a flavor after they’ve had a chance to taste it. “The new flavors are definitely going faster than they would have if we didn’t sample them,” she said.
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