Everyone knows that it takes milk to make ice cream and the milk we use in our ice cream comes from cows, but there’s a bit more to it than that.

Like most animals, cows produce milk to feed their offspring. Dairy cows (Holsteins are the most common breed) are bred to have one calf each year. The average cow is milked for 10 months of the year and then rested for the final two months of their pregnancy to allow the mother to prepare for the arrival of the newborn.

A couple days after she has the calf, the cow is fit to once again be milked commercially. They are usually milked two or three times a day and are capable of producing about 12 gallons or 40 lbs of milk each day.

Most dairy farms have refrigerated storage tanks large enough to store two days of milk which is picked up by tanker trucks every other day. Before the tanker driver starts pumping the milk into his truck, he does several things. First, he makes sure the milk is at the right temperature. Then he does a visual inspection of the milk and also smells it to make sure it passes some basic sensory tests. He then places a sample in a jar and marks with the date and name of the farm for lab testing. This milk is tested to ensure the quality of the product, but it’s also used to determine quality premium payments for the farmer. A sample is also taken for more in depth testing.

Some milk is then taken to a transfer station and combined with other milk truck’s shipments where it is tested even further, however most of the milk used in Turkey Hill ice cream is received directly from the farm and delivered to our 60,000 gallon tanks. To ensure that only the freshest milk is used, many of our deliveries come from dairy farms located within a 25-mile radius of the dairy.

Here’s what sounds like a great recipe from the Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis. It’s called Pizzelle Ice Cream Sandwiches. (A pizzelle is an Italian waffle cookie, similar to what you’d find on a regular ice cream sandwich.) In true Giada style, the pizzelle cookies are spread with Nutella before the ice cream is placed in between. If you haven’t tried Nutella as an ice cream topping or a sandwich spread, you don’t know what you’re missing.

As always, if anyone tries this recipe, let us know how it goes. Of course, if it doesn’t work out (how bad can it really get?), you can always just eat the ice cream in the middle (or try these).

Some people make ice cream at home using sophisticated ice cream machines and others do it with much simpler methods. Either way, the great thing about do-it-yourself ice cream is that you can experiment by making all sorts of unusual flavors.

Like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (vanilla ice cream with peanuts, cracker jacks and, for the truly adventuresome, a few bits of hot dog). Or maybe “Carnival Surprise” (with diced caramel apples and ribbons of cotton candy). Thing is, they sound good in theory—except for the hot dogs—but the real test is how they taste after they’re made.

Speaking of unusual flavors, here’s a few varieties of ice cream from around the world that definitely fit that category:

- Sweet Potato Ice Cream (Japan)
- Rose Petal Ice Cream (From the Rose Café in Venice, California)
- Octopus Ice Cream (Japan)
- Chunky Bacon Ice Cream (From the Udder Delight Ice Cream House in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware)
- Mango Seaweed Ice Cream (Taiwan)
- Habanero Pepper Ice Cream (USA)

There’s even a website with an “ice cream flavor generator” you can use to invent random and endless combinations of wacky varieties. Try it yourself and let us know what comes up. Turn on the “Gross & Weird” feature if you dare. (Who’s up for a little Triple Salmon Soybean Swirl?)

Emulsifiers are compounds added to ice cream to develop the right body, texture and air distribution necessary to make the ice cream smooth and creamy. The original ice cream emulsifier was egg yolk, which was used in most of the earliest recipes. Today we use monoglycerides and diglycerides, which are really just substances derived from common vegetable oils like corn. Together with stabilizers -– which aid the emulsifying process -– these ingredients make up just one quarter of one percent of all ice cream.

Patricia M. e-mailed Ernie today and revealed that her family owns a farm and they were thinking of entering into the business of making ice cream. She also asked where aspiring professional ice cream makers can go to learn the craft. Her question was well-timed, because we were planning to post this entry today. Hope this helps Patricia, and good luck!

For the past 114 years, Penn State has offered the world's best known and largest educational course dedicated solely to the “science and technology of ice cream.” Each year, about 120 students from ice cream companies around the world travel to the campus in State College, Pennsylvania to learn about ice cream ingredients, quality control, flavor selection, storage and many other aspects of the ice cream making process.

The course lasts about seven days and it's said that just about every major ice cream maker in the world has someone on their staff who is a graduate of the class. Turkey Hill's own Quality Assurance Manager is a proud graduate.

According to a Penn State website, the course got its start in 1892 as a winter session “when farm work is least pressing and the boys can best be spared.” Back then, tuition was free and the students paid $5 to cover “incidental expenses and laboratory fees.” Photos of the modern-day version of the course can be seen here.

Unfortunately, the Ice Cream Short Course is only open to industry professionals. However, Penn State does offer a two-day “Ice Cream 101″ course in January which is open to “ice cream lovers, entrepreneurs and small-business owners.”

It’s funny. Every time we travel to new markets for sampling events we inevitably hear the question, “Why is it called Turkey Hill?” Sometimes the question is accompanied by a wrinkled nose expression, but any apprehension they may have is gone by the time they finish a sample of Butter Pecan or Choco Mint Chip.

The simple explanation behind our name is this: The ridge where the Dairy is located was a fertile hunting ground for the Susquehannock Native Americans who inhabited the region hundreds of years ago. Because of the abundance of turkeys on the land, they named the ridge “Turkey Hill.” (You can still see turkeys grazing on fields near the Dairy on many days.)

The name is confirmed on a sheepskin deed written in 1765 by William Penn’s sons Thomas and Richard selling the land to ancestors of Armor Frey (that’s an actual photo of the deed above). Armor started the dairy in 1936 and the deed remains a prized possession of the family.

Jessica E. from Browns Summit, NC asks:

After the ice cream is cut in half with the big knife, does the dissected ice cream then get thrown out, or does someone get to eat it?

What a great question! I assume you are referring to the daily cutting of ice cream that is done to check the quality of the ice cream made the day before.

As each new flavor is made, someone marks the first and last “saleable” package made. Saleable would mean that they felt all the ice cream and ingredients were filling the package in proper amounts. The marked containers then travel through the blast freezer and are set aside by the palletizing crew the next day. This is the product that is tested during the “ice cream cutting” process.

It begins by evaluating the outside of the package, removing the cover, and using the double spoon method to taste the product. The package is then cut in half using a very large and sharp knife. It is then evaluated visually to make sure all the inclusions (fudge, pecans, cherries, cookies, cookie dough, etc.) are dispersed evenly. By now the ice cream is almost nearly destroyed, and is disposed of by placing it into a bin labeled “Food Grade Waste.”

But there is a happy end to this story, because the leftover ice cream isn’t just thrown away. The ice cream, along with other remnant ice cream produced that day, is accumulated, diluted with water, and tested for butterfat and total food solids. It is then sent to a nearby farm where it is blended with dry feed and fed to the ever-hungry pigs. Pretty lucky pigs!

Thanks for your question!

Ernie

We just wanted to say how happy we are to have so many new readers.

One of the biggest questions we've heard from last week’s Duetto entry is “Where and when can I buy Duetto?” The good news is, it's already available at Turkey Hill Minit Markets, so if you live near one, you're in luck. If not, don't worry. Duetto will be available in many grocery stores by April. To find a participating Turkey Hill store near you, check out the “Find Us” tool on our website.

If you want to make sure your store will be stocking Duetto, just put in a request with your frozen foods manager. Trust us, it never hurts, and they're always happy to hear your suggestions. Whenever we launch a new product, we have to do the same thing. We negotiate with the people responsible for deciding what is sold in each grocery store chain, who then take into account things like shelf space, customer demand and the feedback from the frozen foods managers in each store.

Since they already know us (and our products), convincing them to stock Duetto shouldn't be a problem, but if they hear that you want Duetto and then they hear from us that we've got it, it might speed up the process and greatly improves our chances of getting all four flavors on the shelf at your local grocery store. Imagine the pride you'll feel when you walk through the ice cream aisle and see that Mango Duetto on the shelf and know that you helped get it there. You're thinking about it aren't you? It's good to have you on our team!