‘Sweet CORNell’ ice cream debuts, hits the spot

Two students with ice cream
Joe Wilensky
John Flanagan ’15, left, and Kevin Milian '15 taste the first servings of "Sweet CORNell" ice cream at the Cornell Dairy Bar; the corn-and-salted-caramel flavor is the official ice cream for the university's sesquicentennial.
Student serving ice cream
Joe Wilensky
Eric Feldman '17, Cornell Dairy Bar student server, serves the first scoops of "Sweet CORNell" ice cream Friday morning.

Despite temperatures in the low 30s (and snow showers and squalls moving through the area), Cornell Dairy’s official sesquicentennial ice cream, “Sweet CORNell,” debuted Friday, April 24, at the Dairy Bar.

The corn-flavored ice cream with a hint of salted caramel was developed last fall by a team of Food Science 1101 students competing to develop an official flavor for the university’s 150th birthday.

“It has an interesting texture, but it’s not offensive … and it’s a light flavor,” said Kevin Milian ’15, who tasted the first scoop doled out by Cornell Dairy Bar student server Eric Feldman ’17.

John Flanagan ’15, who got the second serving, agreed. “It’s got that nice sweet, [but] a little bit savory, and the butter flavor and you can definitely taste the caramel and the sweetness,” he said.

Ninety three-gallon tubs have been stocked up at the Dairy Bar alone to serve through Charter Day Weekend, April 24-27.

Erynn Johnson ’15, who was on the winning team that developed “Sweet CORNell,” arrived early at the Dairy Bar on Friday.

“That’s why I had to come here first thing in the morning, to get some, now that it’s out,” she said. “People are really excited about the story behind it, which I appreciate, because we spent a lot of time thinking about how we could make an ice cream that was special, and not just because of the flavor, but because of the reason behind the flavor.

“And then we found out about Barbara McClintock, a Cornell alumna [B.S. ’23 (botany), M.A. ’25, Ph.D. ’27 (plant genetics)], who had done her [1983 Nobel Prize-winning] research on corn genetics. And she perfectly fit the saying, ‘any person … any study.’

“We were really happy we developed a story around it that we could share with people,” Johnson said.

Media Contact

Melissa Osgood