f you live in Morgantown, you don't have to worry about where your next dish of ice cream will come from. Morgantown is ice cream central, baby!

Part of the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences, the WVU dairy has provided freshly-frozen ice cream to the University since 1918. That's 81 years of providing high-quality treats to students, faculty, staff, and the Morgantown community.

With about 30 flavors of ice cream to choose from, the WVU dairy is sure to please your palate. What's your favorite? Chocolate butter fudge, toasted almond, maybe even teaberry?

You probably tasted the WVU dairy's ice cream during your stay at WVU—the residence halls and campus food services all offer it. It's also sold directly from the plant on Thursdays, so if you missed it while you were here the first time, there's always a second chance.

The ice cream is creamy, undeniably delectable, and definitely not fat-free (its fat content is anywhere from 12 to 14 percent, depending on the flavor). But that's OK—good ice cream isn't supposed to be fat-free.

And move over, Ben and Jerry, this is good ice cream.

When the dairy first began making ice cream, it used fresh milk from the WVU farm. Due to aging equipment, a commercially-prepared mix has been used to start the creamy mixture for the past three years. The dairy employees freeze ice cream one or two days each week. They make it in two types of freezers—a continuous freezer and a batch freezer.

Using the continuous freezer, mix is poured in and ice cream continuously comes out the other end. Ripples (like strawberry or chocolate) are added by pouring flavoring into a funnel on top of the freezer. A batch freezer does exactly what it sounds like—it freezes one batch (ten gallons) at a time. After the partly-frozen ice cream is poured into containers (either three-gallon, five-quart, or half-gallon tubs), it's taken to a walk-in storage freezer where it is kept at a very chilly 12 degrees below zero.

Mostly student-run, the dairy produces about 400 gallons per week. Five students worked there during the Spring 1999 semester.

Dr. John Warren, chair of the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, says that the dairy is "primarily student-oriented, and is used for student training." Students in food sciences classes use the dairy as a lab. There, they can observe food sanitation, processing, and technology.

The machinery isn't the only thing that's been around the dairy for a long time. Associate Professor Emeritus Paul Smith has been there since 1959. Smith officially retired in 1997, but still comes by to help out.

"He's great. He knows everything about making ice cream," says Warren.
Smith has seen a lot at the dairy. "Since 1959, there have been over 300 student employees—mostly work-study. A lot of the students were employed when we delivered five days per week," he said.

WVU dairy products have never been sold commercially before, but that could change soon. Negotiations are currently underway to sell WVU-produced ice cream to a local restaurant chain.

The dairy hasn't changed much over the years. But it hasn't really needed to. It still serves an important role in the education of animal and veterinary sciences students—and a great bowl of ice cream.