By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
It took 100 years to develop, but this multiflavored melange was worth the wait. To celebrate the centennial of Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the university's dairy has created an ice cream it calls Bailey's Creme with Henry's Crunch. Its flavor is Irish cream and it is combined with dark chocolate flakes, caramel and peanuts.
The ice cream will be unveiled -- with free samples -- on May 12 following an afternoon parade across the campus to celebrate the college's centennial.
The Bailey in the name is for the college's first dean, Liberty Hyde Bailey. Henry is for Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Bailey, an influential American agriculturist at the turn of the last century, is credited with tying several disciplines into horticulture. He published 700 scientific papers and more than five dozen books, including the seminal Cyclopedia of American Horticulture. He is often called the father of modern American agriculture.
Henry, the college's 12th dean, is a molecular geneticist, microbiologist and biochemist who has been a research scientist, teacher and an administrator at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City, and Carnegie Mellon University.
More than 3,000 cups, 75 gallons and untold pints of the ice cream will be served at the centennial celebration. To make the initial run, the dairy used 110 gallons of ice cream base mix, 60 pounds of peanuts, 11 gallons of caramel sauce and 11 gallons of chocolate chip base. It added 400 pounds of cream, 200 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of skim milk powder, 50 pounds of corn syrup solid and 44 ounces of Irish cream (non alcoholic) flavoring. The premium ice cream contains 70 percent overrun, or air, to keep the cream from turning into a very sweet butter.
David Bandler, Cornell professor emeritus of food science, and David Brown, senior research associate, originated the idea. They created three test batches, the first featuring a heavy dose of the Irish cream, the second containing a lighter taste of Irish cream flavoring, and the third, which won wide approval, containing a stronger Irish cream flavor.
Cornell has a long history of developing unusual ice cream flavors: Former Cornell pilot plant manager Eric Hallstead once tried making a gin-and-tonic ice cream, which "was horrible, brutal," he recalls. He also tried a whiskey-sour-flavored ice cream, "which wasn't bad, but as an ice cream, it didn't live up to its name," he said.
Whether Irish cream or whiskey sour works in ice cream depends on how different people respond to specific flavors. "Food flavors have tremendous psychological parameters," said Joseph Hotchkiss, Cornell professor of food science. "When someone eats ice cream, the spoonful is warmed in your mouth and the volatile flavors are sent as signals behind your nose, behind your eyes and to your brain. That's when your brain processes these flavors and tells you whether this is a flavor you like or not."
For several years, students in Food Science 101, taught by Hotchkiss, have divided into teams for a competition to create award-winning flavors.
In 1998 the students' work surpassed Hotchkiss' expectations in creating an instant Cornell campus classic: Sticky Bunz ice cream. The taste of Sticky Bunz brought fond memories of warm, gooey sticky buns fresh from the oven. It is a vanilla-based, cinnamon-flavored ice cream that features butter crunch, pecans and caramel. Six years later, Sticky Bunz is among the best sellers at the campus's Cornell Dairy Bar.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' yearlong commemoration of its 100 years of leadership in teaching, research and extension will get a rolling start with a centennial parade across campus May 12, beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Ho Plaza. Parade participants -- including Holstein heifers and other animals, horse-drawn carriages, the equestrian team, antique cars, floats and bands -- will convene on the plaza at 1:30. The parade -- which recreates a parade on May 12, 1904, that celebrated Cornell's official designation as the New York State College of Agriculture -- will pass between Sage Chapel and Olin Library, continue past Day Hall and up Tower Road, and conclude in front of Fernow Hall, between Bradfield and Rice halls. The entire Cornell community is encouraged to come out, line the parade route and have a great time.
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |