Several judges decided to skip breakfast the morning of the taste-off. Twenty-year-old stomachs have their limits. Only so many flavors of Aggie ice cream can be ingested before they declare war on one another.

The judges knew what they were in for. The last time their class met, they tinkered with recipes and ingredients so the blue-tinted mint ice cream that pays homage to Aggie blue wouldn't stain their teeth an embarrassing color and the graham crackers in a chocolate marshmallow concoction wouldn't dissolve into soggy slivers of tasteless goo.

There were 300 entries in the contest held by the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department. To help determine the winner that will be mass-produced for sale, students of Don McMahon's Dairy Processing class produced batches of the most marketable candidates and sampled them. Two joke flavors were eliminated before students got to the test production stage - ham and eggs, and broccoli and carrots.

Chewy morsels of coma-inducing chocolate were the common ingredient among the three semi-finalists. Chocolate chips added contrast to Amanda Cram's blueberry-spiked raspberry; chocolate chips and brownie bits lent a satisfying crunch to the cake-batter-consistency of a corporate entry; and white chocolate and Oreo cookie flakes had a similar effect on the blue mint proposed by economics major Sarah Casperson.
After tasting the flavors themselves during Homecoming Weekend, students, alumni and faculty cast their votes. It was a close race, but the blue mint led by a wide enough margin to declare a winner.

"Age affects preferences," says Professor McMahon. Students gravitate toward commercial flavors that are popular today. Alumni pick flavors that remind them of their favorites when they were students. "They're very disappointed when we tell them we no longer make black walnut or banana nut. Tastes change," says McMahon. "But people still like lemon custard."

The new flavor will be sold on campus. "We think it will do better than the Peanut Butter Boogie that Edith Bowen lab school students came up with. Not many people bought that one. It might have been the seeds in the raspberry jam. Our tongues are rather fussy."

As a result of this year's contest, Aggie ice cream aficionados will be able to pick from among 34 flavors. McMahon and his colleagues hope to make the contest an annual affair.

Since the first gallon of Aggie ice cream was produced in 1922, the premium ice cream has become a staple of university events, alumni weddings and snack breaks for students and summer tour groups bound for Bear Lake.

McMahon would like to suggest another use. "Aggie ice cream makes an ideal gift when you've forgotten an important birthday. Carve it into slabs, put it in the freezer and when it's time to serve it, stick in the candles."

"Are you speaking from experience?" one of his students asks.

"Well … yes. But make certain you know your wife's favorite flavor."

-Jane Koerner