Cyscream was chosen as the winner out of the top three finalists in the student submission for the signature ice cream. Second place belonging to Cardinal Tracks and third place going to Ice Cream of the “Day.”
The announcement of Iowa State’s signature ice cream was held at Friley Windows, on Friday morning, Dec. 8.
Cyscream was created by four team members. The foursome are all seniors in food science: Mikaela Galdonik, Timothy Lott, Evan McCoy and Geena Whalen. For their ice cream flavor inspirations, they decided to honor two Iowa State alumni.
“We knew we wanted to include peanut butter in honor of George Washington Carver,” Lott said. “We also wanted to include Rice Krispies because of Mildred Day…why not just combine the two?”
Cyscream consists of a peanut butter base, chocolate fudge swirl and chocolate Rice Krispie bites.
“We included the chocolate swirl to incorporate a chocolate cyclone,” Galdonik said. “To make a good tasting ice cream but to also include as much of Iowa State as possible.”
Each ice cream was unique but they also shared a common purpose, to incorporate Iowa State’s rich history in their flavors.
Cardinal Tracks was created by Colby Abrams, senior in chemical engineering, and Amanda Speltz, junior in food science. Cardinal Tracks has a sweet corn vanilla ice cream base, with a raspberry swirl and little chocolate pieces shaped in little cardinal footprints and chocolate medallion shapes that tied into Iowa State’s lore.
“Iowa State is a land grant institution with an emphasis in agriculture studies,” Speltz said. “We wanted to pull that into our foundation of really what our flavors are and what the whole ice cream is.”
Ice Cream of the “Day” was also another team of two. Created by Morgan Nelson, sophomore in pre-dietetics, and Allison Wallace, sophomore in animal science. Their ice cream honored Mildred Day with Rice Krispie Treats, marshmallow fluff and mini marshmallows.
“These three teams deserve recognition for their creativity,” said Dr. Stephanie Clark, professor in food science and human nutrition. “History was being honored with these three products.”
The ice cream was judged on: ice cream name, flavor appeal, Iowa State theme, product description, mix and flavoring formulation, and a promotional video.
One of the troubles the winning team had issues with was the formulation process.
“We ran into the issue of making it from an industry size scale,” Whalen said. “The graduate student that we talked to said it was not realistic, so we had to go back and redo the formula calculations.”
Iowa State staff and students will get their first taste of Cyscream sometime in the spring.
“Probably in March or April, when it’s starting to warm up,” Clark said. “We are seeing this as a spring launch and plan to serve it at special events.”
“I’m excited to try our ice cream next spring,” McCoy said. “I look forward to seeing how they take our recipe and mass produce it…I’m glad that everyone else will get the chance to try our product.”
This may also not be the last time Iowa State will see an ice cream contest. There is a possibility there will be another contest in a year or two.
“We want to give a new crop of students a chance,” Clark said. “ISU has a 150 year history, and it will continue…there will be new traditions and we want to give the opportunity for students to create new additional ice creams.”
“This is just the beginning.”