Penn State Creamery

News EditorIce Cream

One of the highlights to studying on an agricultural campus is the ice cream that is made on-site. Cornell University, LSU and Wisconsin-Madison to name just a few. One of the more well known is the Creamery at Penn State University. This story highlights the career of Tom Palchak, an important key to the Creamery’s success.

In 1986, when Tom Palchak was hired to manage the historic Creamery, the tradition-bound ice cream industry was in upheaval. Two Vermont hippies named Ben and Jerry, who learned the art of ice-cream making through Penn State’s ice cream short course, were creating a sensation nationwide with far-out ice cream flavor combinations like chocolate chip cookie dough, Cherry Garcia and New York Super Fudge. For many, especially college students, good old vanilla and chocolate just didn’t sound that exciting anymore.

Enter Palchak, a Penn State dairy sciences grad who had just returned to his alma mater. He’d been working as a production supervisor for a Safeway dairy plant in Denver and witnessed firsthand the excitement new flavors generated. As someone who had spent his undergraduate years working in the Creamery, he was keenly aware of the place it held in the hearts of Penn Staters.

Still, he thought Creamery customers were ready for something new, even if the powers that be were hesitant. The first offering, cookies and cream, vanilla ice cream mixed with chocolate sandwich cookie bits, was a runaway hit, and a new era in Creamery history began. In 1989, a food sciences class tweaked an old recipe and another Creamery legend, Peachy Paterno, was created.

“The business absolutely exploded,” Palchak recalled. “We went from making 80,000 gallons a year to 200,000 gallons. In some cases it’s 24 hours from cow to cone. When you’re making ice cream out of milk that was pasture grass just a few days ago, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Today, there are more than 150 flavors of ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and no-sugar ice cream on file at the Creamery, but only 25 or so on the menu at any given time.

Dessert Expo is Heaven

News EditorCompetition, General

dessertexpoIf I could choose one expo to attend, none would appeal to me more than the fifth annual Great American Dessert Expo and Coffeefest. My two favorite things, dessert and coffe in one place! This year’s expo was held in Atlanta, Ga. on June 1-3 and is the nation’s first trade show dedicated exclusively to the huge dessert industry. Part of the expo was the second annual competition, “Small Bite, Big Taste” contest.

Best New Products
Mercer’s Dairy
Mercer’s has created a wine ice cream that is both an elegant and sophisticated adult dessert. The first of its kind. This wine ice cream has up to 5% alcohol by volume yet it retains the texture and creaminess of a true ice cream.

Trish Pat, Nettie and Angel’s Gorgeous Grub
This warm delectable concoction is a myriad of rich, most decadent flavors & textures. The toffee incused sauce enveloping the tart green apple canopy marned with the sweet tongue teasing sponge is sublime! We dare you to Indulge!

Best Chocolate
Barry Callebaut
This 66% new single origin dark chocolate is bittersweet and lightly acidic and its fragrance unveils a delicious note of licorice.

Best Confection
Trish Pat, Nettie and Angel’s Gorgeous Grub
This exotic Sulky Combination of passion-fruit, apricot, mango and rich clotted cream coddled in marbled chocolate casing floating in passion fruit.

Best Pastry
DePree Rum Cakes LLC
The recipe for our traditional Rum Cake was handed down from generation to generation. Our cakes are hand made with all the finest natural ingredients to bring you the best cake you will ever eat.

Pa. Dairy Vending

News EditorDairy Checkoff, Industry News, Milk, Nutrition

More checkoff news! The Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association has helped Solanco High School in Pennsylvania install two healthy vending machines for the students.

Students at Solanco High School now have easy, day-long access to healthy, delicious and nutritous dairy products, including Turkey Hill whole and lowfat milk, water, juice, cheese, yogurt, and Nutri Grain bars.

They are available in two new “3-A-Day of Dairy” vending machines which were unveiled today during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the high school. The Solanco School District used a $4,000 grant from the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association to purchase the vending machines.

Students, teachers and visitors to Solanco High School can purchase delicious snacks from the new vending machines 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hoosiers Donate Cheese

News EditorCheese, Dairy Checkoff

The Milk Promotion Services of Indiana choose a unique way to celebrate June Dairy Month, by also recognizing Hunger Awareness Day. The group, in partnership with Fair Oaks Farms, donated 4,000 pounds of Indiana cheese to five food banks across the state.

Each food bank will receive 800 pounds of handcrafted Fair Oaks Farms Muenster cheese, a creamy, mild cheese with a slightly nutty flavor.

According to Deb Osza, General Manager of MPSI, “Indiana’s dairy farmers are helping our hungry friends and neighbors to get their 3-a-day of dairy and essential nutrients like calcium and vitamin D with a donation of one of Indiana’s finest cheeses.” She also said, “Hoosier dairy farm families have a long history of community involvement dating back to the early 1930’s with their support of Dairy Council nutrition education programs in Indiana”.

Wisconsin Implements Tax Credit

News EditorAgribusiness, Dairy Checkoff, Industry News

Wisconsin has recommitted to the state’s agribusinesses through the implementation of the Dairy Manufacturing Facility Tax Investment Credit.

“When the Dairy Manufacturing Facility Investment Tax Credit is implemented, alongside the existing investment tax credits for dairy farm and livestock operations, Wisconsin agribusiness will be in a better position to compete in the increasingly competitive international dairy product markets,”said Dairy Business Association Executive Director Laurie Fischer. “This new investment credit will no doubt aid dairy plant expansions, create jobs, secure the future of rural communities and increase dairy exports from Wisconsin well above the current $224 million annually that milk and milk products exported from America’s Dairyland.”

“This new tax credit for dairy manufacturers will spur investment in new facilities and new technology. Wisconsin is America’s leading cheese producer, and this credit will help us remain competitive in the growing cheese marketplace,” said John Umhoefer, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

CWT Export Assistance Bids

Chuck ZimmermanDairy Group, Markets

Cooperatives Working TogetherHere’s the latest announcement from Cooperatives Working Together:

Cooperatives Working Together accepted seven export assistance bids last week for the sale of butter. The first bid was accepted from O-AT-KA of Batavia, New York – the first time CWT has accepted a bid from that organization. That bid was for 200 metric tons (440,000 pounds) of butter to Nicaragua.

Two bids were accepted from Darigold of Seattle, WA, each for the export of 250 tons (550,000 lbs.) of butter to the Netherlands, for a total of 500 tons.

The other four bids were from Land O’Lakes of Arden Hills, MN: 455 tons (1,000,120 lbs.) of butter to the Netherlands; 72 tons (158,400 lbs.) of butter to Austria (the first time CWT has exported products to that nation); 234 tons (514,800 lbs.) to Morocco, and another 216 tons (475,200 lbs.) to Morocco.

These accepted bids increase CWT’s total 2007 export obligations for cheese to 5,279 metric tons (11.6 million lbs.), its YTD export obligations for butter to 6,994 metric tons (15.4 million lbs.), and its YTD anhydrous milkfat exports to 2,180 tons (4.8 million lbs.).

Dairyline Markets In Review

Chuck ZimmermanDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
It happened after all, for the second time in history. The little train that couldn’t did…even as the market anticipated Monday’s May Milk Production report. Cash block cheese hit $2.00 per pound on June 13, after closing the previous week on a down note, and held there the rest of the week. That’s up 2 3/4-cents on the week, 80 1/2-cents above a year ago, and the highest it’s been since May 2004.

Barrel closed at $2.05, up 12 cents on the week, and 86 1/2-cents above a year ago. Seven cars of block and four of barrel traded hands. The NASS U.S. average block price hit $1.7623, up 5.9 cents. Barrel averaged $1.8148, up 9.2 cents.

Cash butter closed at $1.48, down 2 1/4-cents on the week, but 30 1/2-cents above a year ago. 27 cars were sold. NASS-surveyed butter averaged $1.5167, up 4 cents. NASS Nonfat dry milk averaged $1.9086, up 10.4 cents, and dry whey averaged 75.55 cents per pound, down 0.7 cent.
Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

Get a Virtual Dairy Tour

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Dairy Checkoff, Education, General

Dairy Farming TodayHere’s a report from the Dairy Checkoff. Research suggests that today’s consumers are interested more than ever before about where their food comes from. In an effort to show the public how high-quality dairy products get from the farm to consumers’ tables, a producer-funded Web site, takes visitors on a virtual tour of a dairy farm. Brian Baxter has more in this report: Listen To MP3 Dairy Checkoff Report.

The report features comments from Washington dairy producers Liz Anderson and Kima Simonson.

A Guide to America’s Cheese

News EditorCheese

cheesebookIf you love cheese, then you will love this new book “The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese”. Author Jeffrey P. Roberts has compiled the stories of over 350 cheesemakers and paired them with photos.

Mr. Roberts, a founder of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont, has ferreted out stories of about 350 of the 400 cheesemakers he has found in America so far.

Each profile is filled with all the useful information a cheese fiend would want to have. There are lots of photos: the cheeses look delicious and the farmers kindly while the lambs, cows and goats never look posed but always look winsome. Even if you can’t take a tour, the atlas provides a useful introductory course on artisanal cheeses and tells how to order many of the cheeses online.

Igenity Adds to Profile

News EditorBiotech, Genetics, Industry News

igenityMerial has announced two new analyses to the comprehensive IGENITY® profile.

Added to the DNA profile are a multiple-marker fertility analysis and an optional diagnostic test for persistent infection (PI) of the bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus.

DNA markers also have been added to the longevity and milk production analyses in the IGENITY profile — making them more powerful and increasing the amount of genetic variation accounted for in the profile.

“Fertility and productive life are major areas of concern for the dairy industry,” says Dr. Stewart Bauck, Executive Director of Strategic Marketing, IGENITY. “The recent advancements in the comprehensive IGENITY profile give producers a powerful tool for management and selection of these important traits — earlier than before.”

Dr. Bauck adds that the upgrade of the IGENITY profile in production and longevity traits is equally valuable. The profile now provides more information about the genetic potential for production traits and is extremely powerful in showing productive life differences in cows.