National Ice Cream Day 2021: Celebrating local shops

<p>University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dairy Store worker Leyna Sand of Lincoln serves up a single scoop of 4-H Clover Mint ice cream in a waffle cone. The Dairy Store on East Campus in Lincoln, founded in 1917, recently moved to a new location in the same Food Industry Complex — relocating the entrance from the south side of the building to the north side, with a beautiful view of Legacy Plaza and East Campus Union. In addition to cool flavors like Tractor Test Toffee, honoring the U.S. Tractor Test laboratory on campus, the Dairy Store also processes and sells all kinds of cheeses and other dairy products.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-business/unl-dairy-store-serving-new-l... more about the store. </a></p>

<p>Kansas State University’s Call Hall Dairy Bar is the tastiest stop by far for visitors to its Manhattan, Kan., campus. Ice cream, milk, cheese, and other dairy products have been sold here since it opened in 1964. Milk from the university’s teaching herd of dairy cows is processed on campus in the Dairy Processing Plant, just on the other side of the wall from the Dairy Bar. Every step of the way is a teaching tool for students, from milking the cows, to processing the milk, and selling the finished products on campus. The most popular flavor of Call Hall ice cream, by far, is “Purple Pride.” It’s a true blueberry flavor developed specifically to feature the dairy goodness of the university’s milk, which gets its unique flavor profile from the Flint Hills grasses and forages that the university herd grazes.</p>

<p>Read more about the dairy bar: <a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/livestock/call-hall-dairy-bar-dishes-smiles... Hall Dairy Bar dishes up smiles at K-State</a></p>

<p>Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.asi.k-state.edu/about/services-and-sales/call-hall-dairy-bar... target="_blank">Call Hall Dairy Bar online</a>.</p>

<p>Year in and year out, Cookies ‘n Cream is near the top of favorite ice cream flavors.</p>

<p>Just where do people come up with the varied flavors of the delicious summer treats? Well, in the case of Oreo ice cream, now known worldwide as Cookies ‘n Cream, it was born on the campus of South Dakota State University in Brookings.</p>

<p>The origin goes back to 1979 when SDSU dairy plant manager Shirley Seas and dairy science students Joe Leedom and Joe Van Treeck mixed Oreo cookies into a batch of ice cream created in the SDSU dairy plant. Legend has it that Sees’ inspiration for the confectionary concoction came from a stop at an ice cream shop after a day of judging dairy products. His scoop of ice cream came with cookie crumbles on top.</p>

<p>Their innovation has not gone unnoticed as in 2013 the Food Network Magazine named SDSU Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream the best ice cream treat in South Dakota.</p>

<p>Cookies ‘n Cream is one of the many flavors that can be found at the on-campus Dairy Bar. At any one time 18 of the more than 60 ice cream flavors created in the campus dairy plant can be purchased by the cone, dish or half-gallon containers at the Dairy Bar.</p>

<p>In addition to ice cream, customers may also purchase a variety of cheeses and butters in the Dairy Bar that is operated by Aramark Dining Services of SDSU.</p>

<p>Visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sdstate.edu/dairy-and-food-science/sdsu-dairy-bar" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Dairy Bar online.</a></p>

<p>Tallis Patrick enjoys homemade ice cream at the FiberMax Center for Discovery Ice Cream Social in Lubbock, Texas, while the center’s Executive Director, Lacee Hoelting, discusses ice cream consumption in the United States and the importance of dairies.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FiberMaxCenterforDiscovery" target="_blank">Visit the center online.</a></p>

<p>Ayars Family Farm ice cream is produced right on the farm! All ice cream is small batch – a simple mother-son division of responsibility. Bonnie Ayars manages the other details including the creation of the flavors and recipes, and her son Lucas Ayars handles the mechanics and</p>

<p>They specialize in using the finest of ingredients and 15% butterfat. Their wide variety of flavors appeal to all generations. Ayars Family Farm ice cream can be found in local stores and of course, at the farm. Their ice cream was even endorsed by Luke Bryan when they hosted his Farm Aid Tour at their farm in 2018!&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="http://173.201.94.132/icecream.html" target="_blank">Learn more about the farm and its ice cream.</a></p>

<p>Brocket Farms serves up various ice cream flavors and shakes, to include date shakes made with locally grown dates from <a href="https://brocketfarms.com/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Bard Date Company</a>. Brocket Farms is owned by Sarah Kingery and is located at 102 E. 3^rd St., Yuma, Ariz. in the Old Town District. Brocket Farms is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.</p>

<p><a href="https://brocketfarms.com/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Visit Brocket Farms online.</a></p>

<p>Boiler Tracks was introduced in 2019 at the Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry. It's a delightful mix of chocolate and other ingredients. Since then, it's bene offered at the Butcher Block on campus and at other locations. It was designed by Purdue students and produced by Round Barn Creamery in Indiana. It's a 100% Boilermaker hit!</p>

<p>Located off of Lake Wheeler Road in the center of Raleigh, N.C.,&nbsp;<a href="https://howlingcow.ncsu.edu/">Howling Cow Dairy Education Center and Creamery</a>&nbsp;overlooks the North Carolina State University Dairy Farm and features ice cream made on campus in the&nbsp;Feldmeier Dairy Processing Lab, part of the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Science. The tasty ice cream comes directly from more than 300 N.C. State cows on the 329-acre dairy farm.</p>

<p>Here, Valeria Hyala-Otero, a junior psychology and social work major from Concord, N.C.&nbsp; presents a cone of mint chocolate chip ice cream and Halie Lowry, a general agriculture major in the Ag Institute, from Pembroke, N.C., offers a pint of strawberry ice cream while&nbsp; Chris Penwell, a sophomore biological engineering major from Raleigh, N.C., works behind them at the popular creamery which is open every day of the week form noon to 8 p.m. In addition to offering numerous flavors of ice cream as well as milk, the&nbsp;shop offers banana splits, sundaes and milkshakes that customers can enjoy on the porch or lawn overlooking the working dairy farm.</p>

<p><a href="https://howlingcow.ncsu.edu/" target="_blank">Howling Cow Dairy Education Center and&nbsp; Creamery</a></p>

<p>Where can you get flights of ice cream? Flavors like honey lavender, cinnamon habanero and even dairy farmer’s delight? Make your way to Bay City’s Cream &amp; Sugar Ice Cream Company in Bay City, Michigan, where all its ingredients are sourced locally.</p>

<p>Here, Harper (left) and Piper Bauer of Reese, Mich., enjoy their cones.</p>

<p>Cream &amp; Sugar partnered with the Michigan Sugar Company and Michigan Milk Producers Association to source local ingredients and open in September 2019.</p>

<p>Michigan Milk Producers Association is owned by 1,600 dairy farmers in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana, while Michigan Sugar Company contracts with more than 900 farmers, who harvest 160,000 acres of sugar beets that are processed into 1.1 billion pounds of sugar annually.</p>

<p>For those that have a hard time deciding on a particular flavor, Cream and Sugar offers flights of three flavors.</p>

<p>Learn more about the creamery:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/business/cream-sugar-ice-cream-co-sources-l... style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Cream &amp; Sugar Ice Cream Co. sources local ingredients </a></p>

<p>Looking for ice cream made super-fresh from the farm? Check out the frozen goodness at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.marcootjerseycreamery.com/">Marcoot Jersey Creamery</a>, located in Greenville, Ill. Sisters Beth and Amy Marcoot, along with their parents John and Linda, raise Jersey cows, make cheese and churn ice cream for thousands of farm visitors every year. Want to know more about this female-owned business? Check out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/management/women-farm-their-own-way">Prairie Farmer’s story</a>&nbsp;on them from earlier this year.</p>

<p>Read more about the creamery: <a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/management/women-farm-their-own-way">Women farm their own way </a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.marcootjerseycreamery.com/" target="_blank">Visit the creamery online.&nbsp; </a></p>

<p>Students at University of Wisconsin-Madison have been enjoying Babcock Ice Cream since 1951. Babcock Dairy Store, 1605 Linden Drive, at UW-Madison, serves 22 flavors of ice cream including vanilla, blue moon, chocolate peanut butter, salted caramel toffee, and chocolate chip cookie dough. The recipe for their standard ice cream mix hasn’t changed since they began serving ice cream 70 years ago in 1951.</p>

<p>All of the ice cream is made on campus at Babcock Hall which also houses Babcock Store. Stop in for a sweet treat! You can enjoy an ice cream treat at Babcock Dairy Store or take a pint, half-gallon or a three-gallon tub with you.</p>

<p><a href="https://babcockdairystore.wisc.edu/ice-cream/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Visit the Babcock Dairy Store online. </a></p>

<p><span style="color:black">Ice cream by any name, even custard, is delicious if it is made with quality ingredients by people who love ice cream. Ritter’s is an Indiana chain which originated with one store in Franklin and now has several outlets. Customers walk up- there is no inside dining- even before COvVID-19. But treats like this Turtle Something ice cream with pieces of turtle chocolate candy blended into the mix are worth waiting in line to get! </span></p>

<p>There’s cookies and cream ice cream and then there’s Cookies and Cream, a scoop shop and bakery owned by Ashleu Boeshans, Maple Grove, Minn. Boeshans tried her hand at operating an in-home baking business with young children but soon found herself one local business producer among many a few years after Minnesota’s “cottage food producer” law went into effect. So she decided to try another business venture: Creating cookie dough that people could customize. Ice cream was a natural pairing and hence, “Cookies and Cream” was born. Along with her home-based business, she operates a food truck and travels around the Twin Cities metro to various events.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.cookiesandcreammn.com/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Visit Cookies and Cream online</a>.</p>

<p>Founded in 1914 by Joseph Dager, four generations of Dagers have since run the company, which is located in Utica, Ohio on 25 acres of the perfect combination of wooded countryside and rolling, pastoral farmland.</p>

<p>Still family-owned and operated, Velvet Ice Cream distributes more than five million gallons of ice cream every year from its headquarters on the grounds of Ye Olde Mill.</p>

<p>Each year, the Mill serves up good eats and sweet treats for 150,000 visitors from all over the country in a turn of the century ice cream parlor and restaurant. Ye Olde Mill is also home to a gift shop and Ohio’s only ice cream museum. It is the perfect destination for a day trip or to celebrate weddings, birthdays, family gatherings and more.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.velveticecream.com/" target="_blank">Visit Velvet Ice Cream online.</a></p>

<p>The Michigan State University Dairy Store serves tasty flavors to the MSU community, and its reach goes beyond its two campus stores in Anthony Hall and the MSU Union. So many Spartans have their first dates at the Dairy Store that alumni have had their favorite flavors shipped across the country for their weddings. MSU has created special flavors to celebrate the B1G, special events on campus and local celebrities. This has resulted in unique flavors like Buckeye Blitz, Sesquicentennial Swirl and Dantonio’s Double Fudge Fake.</p>

<p>The store, connected to the manufacturing plant, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but will be up and running again when students, faculty and visitors return to campus this fall.&nbsp;</p>

<p><span style="color:black">Handels has been making ice crema since 1945. They feature a wide variety of unusual flavors, including this Buckeye ice cream&nbsp;includes chocolate- so it has to be good, and it is!</span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">The chain recently opened stores in the suburbs of Indianapolis, Ind., and are usually busy, but the lines move fast. I tis a walk up and order, eat outside or in your car place, with no inside dining. But the ice cream is worth waiting in line, and skilled employees make the line move quickly.</span></p>

<p><span style="color:black">Shameless self-promotion? Maybe a little bit! Jenna Spangler, sole proprietor of&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/jennalous.icecream" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0563c1">Jenna Lou’s Homemade Ice Cream</span></a><span style="color:black">, happens to be the teenage daughter of Prairie Farmer editor Holly Spangler and the young entrepreneur started her own ice cream business two years ago. She sells pints of homemade specialty ice cream through pop-up sales on social media and makes custom-order ice cream cakes – and she’s been known to take pints on the road to cattle shows. To date, she’s made 600 gallons of ice cream,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-life/homemade-ice-cream-s-lesson-commo... style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><span style="color:#0563c1">sold 1,600 pints</span></a><span style="color:black">, and whipped up 50 cakes.</span></p>

<p>Ohio State University Food, Science, and Technology department student mentors (upper-class FST students) make ice cream during one of their engagement programs with the FST student mentees (freshman and transfer students) at the Brewster Dairy Processing Pilot Plant located in the Parker Food Science and Technology building. This 3,000-square-foot facility is equipped to process and package dairy products including fluid milk, ice creams, cheeses and fermented dairy products. In addition to serving faculty and their research, the pilot plant gives students a hands-on experience in the lab through classes and student programming in the department, as well as allowing external stakeholders its use for small-scale test production of product, technical problem solving and research and development.</p>

<p>Culvers is known for ice cream, butter burgers and supporting FFA. My grandson and I loved the flavor of the fay on July 11- crazy cookie dough, with generous cookie dough pieces sprinkled on top. Local Culver outlets in Indiana have donated generously over the years, and hosted several dine-ins where officers serve customers for a few hours in jackets for a percent of the day’s proceeds. The ice cream is always smooth and creamy and cold on a hot day!&nbsp;</p>