Sixteen local high school students with interests in science, culinary arts and marketing participated in the fifth annual Ice Cream University hosted by TIC Gums at the company’s Texture Innovation Center in White Marsh, Md. The program is modeled after Cornell University’s Food Science 101 course, a requirement for incoming freshman of the College of Food Science. TIC Gums, an Ingredion company, said it sponsored each student’s $500 program fee and provided home ice cream makers upon program completion.

The winning ice cream flavor, named Farmer’s Fight (a mixed berry, green tea ice cream with honey crunches), was created by Trey Wooten of Patapsco High School, Jonathon Parks of Fallston High School and Anthony Sulinski of Bel Air High School, TIC Gums said.

Tim Andon, business development manager at TIC Gums and a Cornell alumnus, led the five-week course.

“We are so excited to be hosting our sixth annual Ice Cream University,” Andon said. “Year-over-year, this program has meant so much to TIC Gums and our mission to educate the public about food science. We want to make kids excited about the food industry and inspire them to ask more questions and discover a potentially unknown passion.”

The program featured three areas of focus. The first weeks of study were dedicated to scientific principles such as emulsions, overrun calculation, ice crystal formation and statistical know-how for tracking and maintaining quality, TIC Gums said. The attention then turned to flavor selection and inclusions such as nuts, chocolate and fruit. Finally, the students shifted focus to finalizing the product packaging and marketing. During the last session, students presented their flavors and branding to the judges.

The students’ ice cream and marketing presentations were judged on Saturday, May 5, by a tasting panel. Farmer’s Fight will be produced by the students and sold in the coming weeks at Broom’s Bloom Dairy located in Harford County, Md., the company noted.