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Chili Chocolate Chip is Top Choice among Student Flavors at UMass Amherst Ice Cream Competition
AMHERST, Mass. – The winning flavor in this year’s University of Massachusetts Amherst student ice cream competition is Chili Chocolate Chip, as selected by judges in the fourth annual food science event held on campus April 30. It will become the latest UMass student-created ice cream produced by Maple Valley Creamery of Hadley over the coming weeks, says owner Bruce Jenks.
For the event, creamery staff, local chefs and guest judges sampled original ice creams created by four teams of senior food science majors vying for the honor of developing a new flavor for the UMass label. Jenks said, “This year we had a pretty clear winner,” but he complimented all four teams on their hard work, ambitious goals and “thinking outside the box.” He said that for him, the top consideration is how close the new flavor is to production.
He said, “This is the highlight of our spring at Maple Valley Creamery. We really appreciate the students’ enthusiasm and hard work.” He added that “the science is getting better each year,” and complimented the students on originality, noting “This year every flavor was really different.”
Jenks said a new feature in this year’s competition, the use of Equal Exchange ingredients in the student ice creams, is a valuable marketing point and “very cool.” Equal Exchange, which provided samples to teams throughout the semester, sources ingredients from small-scale farmers around the world and supports their local communities.
The three other entries in this spring’s competition were a butternut squash flavor with lemon zest, ginger, turmeric and semi-sweet chocolate bits, a chocolate banana graham cracker flavor and a strawberry-basil flavor with dark chocolate pieces. The strawberry-basil, dubbed “Summer Blush” by its creators, won the audience’s vote for best flavor, and Jenks said he may make a seasonal batch of it in the summer.
Members of the winning “Chili Chocolate Chip” team are Marina Gela of Dartmouth, Gina Grimaldi of Westfield, Rachael Montigny of Shrewsbury, Joshua Liao of Westford, Erica Snyder of Amesbury and Jozxelle Tongson of Franklin Park, New Jersey. In their presentation, they said their flavor, which uses a spicy Mexican chocolate mix from Equal Exchange, plus cinnamon, chili mixture and churro extract, matches a recent trend in consumer acceptability by using authentic ethnic foods sourced from small farms while meeting the standards of a premium ice cream.
The 24 students in four teams developed the new flavors for their senior capstone project in assistant professor Maria Corradini’s food processing class and lab. Their creations must stay under a price-per-pint cost limit while maximizing taste, aroma and texture. The students also identify sources of food allergens, make sure that their formulations comply with ingredient-specific food safety regulations, clean manufacturing standards and natural ingredient rules.
Corradini said that seniors taking part in the capstone project integrate core food science principles such as the microbiology and chemistry of food, processing, market analysis, value to consumer, shelf stability, regulations, health and nutrition considerations. They must balance food safety, affordability and quality, batch consistency and sensory testing so the final product looks, smells and tastes good.
The experience is extraordinarily helpful as students enter food science research and industry product development careers, she added. “This process lets them realize how the knowledge acquired during their last four years materializes in a product.”
This year’s judges with Jenks were Robert “RJ” Conlin, executive chef of The Farm Table in Bernardston; O’Brian Tomalin, executive chef, owner and brewmaster at the Sierra Grille Restaurant and BLDG8 Brewing in Northampton; Mark Krause, coffee roaster and owner of Esselon Café in Hadley, and Steven Whitaker, chef at Equal Exchange of Cambridge. Food science professor Lynne McLandsborough, assistant professors David Sela and Matthew Moore and extension assistant professor Amanda Kinchla served as academic judges of the student projects.
Again this year, Corradini said that UMass Amherst executive chef Simon Stevenson greatly assisted students in their flavor planning. Also, UMass Amherst food science alumni Steve Platt and Ameena Cohen from the ingredient manufacturer Star Kay White, Inc. of Congers, N.Y., and Scott Coldwell, brand president of Carvel Ice Cream of Atlanta, Georgia, gave a seminar this semester on the ice cream industry, “Branding, Innovation, and Careers,” and provided many samples for the class.